O  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  <f' 


Presented  by  Mr.  Samuel  Agnew  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Agueiv  Coll.  on  Baptism,  No. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/scripturalviews1840puse 


SCRIPTURAL  VIEWS 


OF 


HOLY      BAPTISM, 


AS  ESTABLISHED  BY  THE 


CONSENT  OF  THE  ANCIENT  CHURCH, 


AND  CONTRASTED  WITH  THE 


SYSTEMS  OF  MODERN  SCHOOLS. 


REV.  E.  Br  PUSEY,  D.  D., 

LATE  FELLOW  OF  ORIEL  COLLEGE, 
RECilUS  rUQFESSOR  OF  HEBREW,  AND  CANON  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH. 


NEW  YORK : 
CHARLES  HENRY,  142  FULTON  STREET. 

1840. 


o-  -^i  ^ 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Iln  the  English  edition  this  was  placed  before  No.  47,  with  which  the  2nd 
Volume  of  that  edition  commenced.] 


In  completing  the  second  volume  of  a  publication,  to  which  the 
circumstances  of  the  day  have  given  rise,  it  may  be  right  to  allude 
to  a  change  which  has  taken  place  in  them  since  the  date  of  its  com- 
mencement. At  that  time,  in  consequence  of  long  security,  the  at- 
tention of  members  of  our  Church  had  been  but  partially  engaged 
in  ascertaining  the  grounds  of  their  adherence  to  it ;  but  the  immi- 
nent peril  to  which  all  that  is  dear  to  them  has  since  been  exposed, 
has  naturally  turned  their  thoughts  that  way,  and  obliged  them  to  de- 
fend it  on  one  or  other  of  the  principles  which  are  usually  put  for- 
ward on  its  behalf.  Discussions  have  thus  been  renewed  in  various 
quarters,  on  points  which  had  long  remained  undisturbed ;  and, 
though  numbers  continue  undecided  in  opinion,  or  take  up  a  tempo- 
rary position  in  some  one  of  the  hundred  middle  points  which  may 
be  assumed  between  the  two  main  theories  in  which  the  question 
issues,  and  others  again,  have  deliberately  entrenched  themselves  in 
the  modern  or  ultra-protestant  alternative,  yet,  on  the  whole,  there 
has  been  much  hearty  and  intelligent  adoption,  and  much  respectful 
study,  of  those  more  primitive  views  maintained  by  our  great  Di- 
vines. As  the  altered  state  of  public  information  and  opinion  has  a 
necessary  bearing  on  the  efforts  of  those  who  desire  to  excite  atten- 
tion to  the  subject,  (in  which  number  the  writers  of  these  Tracts 
are  to  be  included,)  it  will  not  be  inappropriate  briefly  to  state  in  this 
place,  what  it  is  conceived  is  the  present  position  of  the  great  body 
of  Churchmen  with  reference  to  it. 

While  we  have  cause  to  be  thankful  for  the  sounder  and  more  ac- 
curate language  which  is  now  very  generally  adopted  among  well- 
judging  men  on  ecclesiastical  subjects,  we  must  beware  of  over-es- 
timating what  has  been  done,  and  so  becoming  sanguine  in  our  hopes 


of  success,  or  slackening  our  exertions  to  secure  it.  Many  nnore  per- 
sons, doubtless,  have  taken  up  a  profession  of  the  main  doctrine 
in  question,  that,  namely,  of  the  One  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church, 
than  fully  enter  into  it.  This  is  to  be  expected,  it  being  the  pecu- 
liarity of  all  religious  teaching,  that  words  are  imparted  before  ideas, 
A  child  learns  his  Creed  or  Catechism  before  he  understands  it ; 
and  in  beginning  any  deep  subject  we  are  all  but  children  to  the  end 
of  our  lives.  The  instinctive  perception  of  a  rightly  instructed  mind, 
the  prima  facie  force  of  the  argument,  or  the  authority  of  our  cele- 
brated writers,  have  all  had  their  due  and  extensive  infiuence  in  fur- 
thering the  reception  of  the  doctrine,  when  once  it  was  openly  main- 
tained ;  to  which  must  be  added  the  prospect  of  the  loss  of  state 
protection,  which  made  it  necessary  to  look  out  for  other  reasons  for 
adherence  to  the  Church  besides  that  of  obedience  to  a  civil  ma- 
gistrate. Nothing  which  has  spread  quickly,  has  been  received  tho- 
roughly. Doubtless  there  are  a  number  of  seriously-minded  per- 
sons, who  think  they  admit  the  doctrine  in  question  much  more  fully 
than  they  do,  and  who  would  be  startled  at  seeing  that  reahzed  in 
particulars,  which  they  confess  in  an  abstract  form.  Many  there  are 
who  do  not  at  all  feel  that  it  is  capable  of  a  practical  application  :  and, 
while  they  bring  it  forward  on  special  occasions,  in  formal  expositions 
of  faith,  or  in  answer  to  a  direct  interrogatory,  let  it  slip  from  their 
minds  almost  entirely  in  their  daily  conduct  or  their  religious  teach- 
ing, from  the  long  and  inveterate  habit  of  thinking  and  acting  without 
it.  We  must  not  then  at  all  be  surprised  at  finding  that  to  modify 
the  principles  and  motives  on  which  men  act  is  not  the  work  of  a  day  ; 
nor  at  undergoing  disappointments,  at  witnessing  relapses,  miscon- 
ceptions, sudden  disgusts,  and  on  the  other  hand,  abuses  and  per- 
versions of  the  true  doctrine,  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  taken  it 
up  with  greater  warmth  than  discernment. 

And  in  the  next  place,  it  will  be  found  that  much  more  has  been 
done  in  awakening  Churchmen  to  the  truth  of  the  Apostolic  Com- 
mission as  a  fact,  and  to  the  admission  of  it  as  a  duty,  than  to  the 
enjoyment  of  it  as  a  privilege.  If  asked  what  is  the  use  of  adher- 
ing to  the  Church,  they  will  commonly  answer  that  it  is  commanded, 
that  all  acts  of  obedience  meet  w^ith  their  reward  from  Almighty 
God,  and  this  in  the  number  ;  but  the  notion  of  the  Church  as  the 
storehouse  and  direct  channel  of  grace,  as  a  Divine  Ordinance,  not 
merely  to  be  maintained  for  order's  sake,  or  because  schism  is  a  sin, 
but  to  be  approached  joyfully  and  expectantly  as  a  definite  instni- 
ment,  or  rather  the  appointed  means,  of  spiritual  blessings, — as  an 
Ordinance  which  conveys  secret  strength  and  life  to  every  one  who 
shares  in  it,  unless  there  be  some  actual  moral  impediment  in  his 
own  mind, — this  is  a  doctrine  which  as  yet  is  but  faintly  understood 
among  us.     Nay,  our  subtle  Enemy  has  so  contrived,  that  by  aflfix- 


ing  to  this  blessed  truth  the  stigma  of  Popery,  numbers  among  us 
are  effectually  deterred  from  profiting  by  a  gracious  provision,  in- 
tended for  the  comfort  of  our  faith,  but  in  their  case  wasted. 

The  particular  deficiency  here  alluded  to,  may  also  be  described 
by  referring  to  another  form  under  which  it  shows  itself,  viz.  the 
a  priori  reluctance  in  those  who  beheve  the  Apostolical  Commission, 
to  appropriate  to  it  the  power  of  consecrating  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
as  if  there  were  some  antecedent  improbability  in  God's  gifts  being 
lodged  in  particular  observances,  and  distributed  in  a  particular  way  ; 
and  as  if  the  strong  wish,  or  moral  worth,  of  the  individual  could 
create  in  the  outward  ceremony  a  virtue  which  it  had  not  received 
from  above.  Rationalistic,  or  (as  they  may  more  properly  be  called) 
carnal  notions  concerning  the  Sacraments,  and  on  the  other  hand,  a 
superstitious  apprehension  of  resting  in  them,  and  a  slowness  to  be- 
lieve the  possibility  of  God's  having  literally  blessed  ordinances  with 
invisible  power,  have,  alas  !  infected  a  large  mass  of  men  in  our  com- 
munion. There  are  those  whose  "  word  will  eat  as  doth  a  canker  ;" 
and  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  we  have  been  over-near  certain  celebrated 
Protestant  teachers,  Puritan  or  Latitudinarian,  and  have  suffered  in 
consequence.  Hence  we  have  almost  embraced  the  doctrine,  that 
God  conveys  grace  only  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  mental 
energies,  that  is,  through  faith,  prayer,  active  spiritual  contempla- 
tions or  [what  is  called]  communion  with  God,  in  contradiction  to 
the  primitive  view,  according  to  which  the  Church  and  her  Sacra- 
ments are  the  ordained  and  direct  visible  means  of  conveying  to  the 
soul  what  is  in  itself  supernatural  and  unseen.  For  example,  would 
not  most  men  maintain,  on  the  first  view  of  the  subject,  that  to  ad- 
minister the  Lord's  Supper  to  infants,  or  to  the  dying  and  apparently 
insensible,  however  consistently  pious  and  believing  in  their  past 
lives,  must  be,  under  all  circumstances,  and  in  every  conceivable 
case,  a  superstition  ?  and  yet  neither  practice  is  without  the  sanction 
of  primitive  usage.  And  does  not  this  account  for  the  prevailing 
indisposition  to  admit  that  Baptism  conveys  regeneration  ?  Indeed, 
this  may  even  be  set  down  as  the  essence  of  Sectarian  Doctrine, 
(however  its  mischief  m.ay  be  restrained  or  compensated,  in  the  case 
of  individuals,)  to  consider  faith  and  not  the  Sacraments,  as  the  pro- 
per instrument  of  justification  and  other  gospel  gifts  ;  instead  of 
holding,  that  the  grace  of  Christ  comes  to  us  altogether  from  with- 
out, (as  from  Him,  so  through  externals  of  His  ordaining,)  faith  be- 
ing but  the  sine  qua  ncn,  the  necessary  condition  on  our  parts  for 
duly  receiving  it. 

It  has  been  with  a  view  of  meeting  this  cardinal  deficiency  (as  it 
may  be  termed)  in  the  religion  of  the  day,  that  the  Tract  on  Baptism, 
contained  in  the  latter  half  of  this  volume,  has  been  inserted  ;  which 


is  to  be  regarded,  not  as  an  inquiry  into  one  single  or  isolated  doc- 
trine, but  as  a  delineation,  and  serious  examination  of  a  modern  sys- 
tem of  theology,  of  extensive  popularity  and  great  speciousness,  in 
its  elementary  and  characteristic  principles. 

Note.  The  Treatise  on  Baptism  with  which  this  volume  begins,  is  printed 
from  the  second  English  edition,  revised  and  enlarged  by  the  Author. — Ame- 
rican Editor. 


TRACTS  FOR  THE  TIMES, 
'  No.  67, 

(Ad  Clerum,) 
SCRIPTURAL  VIEWS  OF   HOLY  BAPTISM, 

AS    ESTABLISHED    BY    THE    CONSENT    OF  THE    ANCIENT    CHURCH,    AND 
COJSTTRASTED  WITH    THE    SYSTEMS   ©F   MODERN    SCHOOLS. 


WTiat  sparkles  in  that  lucid  flood 

Is  water,  by  gross  mortals  ey'd : 
But  seen  by  Faith,  'tis  Blood 

Out  of  a  dear  Friend's  side. 

Christian  Year.    Hol^  Baptism, 


PART  L 


CHAPTER  L 

ON  THE  PRm'CIPLES  NECESSARY  FOR  THE  ATTAINMENT  OF  SCRIP- 
TURAL TRUTH,  AND  SOME  OBSTACLES  WHICH  OF  LATE  HAVE  PRE- 
VENTED MEN  FROM  RECEIVING  THAT  OF  BAPTISMAL  REGENERA- 
TION. 

Every  pious  and  well  instructed  member  of  our  Church  will  in 
'the  abstract  acknowledge,  that  in  examining  whether  any  doctrine  be 
a  portion  of  revealed  truth,  the  one  subject  of  inquiry  must  be,  wheth- 
er it  be  contained  in  Holy  Scripture  ;  and  that  in  this  investigation, 
while,  in  proportion  to  the  fulness  of  the  evidence,  he  defers  to  the 
interpretations  haraied  down  to  us  through  the  early  Church,  so  also 
must  he  lay  aside  all  reference  to  the  supposed  influence  of  such 
doctrine,  the  supposed  religious  character  of  those  who  held  it  at  any 
given  time,  and  the  like. 

Any  right-minded  person,  I  say,  will  readily  acknowledge  this  in 
the  abstract ;  for  to  judge  of  doctrines  by  their  supposed  influence 
upon  men's  hearts,  would  imply  that  we  know  much  more  of  our  own 
nature,  and  what  is  necessary  or  conducive  to  its  restoration,  than  we 


8 

do  :  it  would  be  like  setting  about  to  heal  ourselves,  instead  of  re- 
ceiving with  implicit  faith  and  confidence  whatever  the  Great  Physi- 
cian of  our  souls  has  provided  for  us.  The  real  state  of  the  case  is 
indeed  just  the  contrary  of  what  this  habit  would  imply.  We  can, 
in  truth,  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  efficacy  of  any  doctrine  but 
what  we  have  ourselves  believed  and  experienced.  Even  in  matters 
of  our  own  experience  we  may  easily  deceive  ourselves,  and  ascribe 
our  spiritual  progress  exclusively  to  the  reception  of  the  one  or  the 
other  truth,  whereas  it  has  depended  upon  a  number  of  combining 
causes  which  God  has  ordered  for  our  good,  upon  a  great  variety  af 
means,  by  which  God  has  been  drawing  us  to  Himself,  whereof  we 
have  seized  upon  one  or  two  of  the  principal  only.  In  other  cases  we 
may  be  altogether  mistaken.  Thus,  to  take  a  published  instance;  a 
person  now  living  has  said  of  himself  that  "  he  read  himself  into  un- 
belief, and  afterwards  read  himself  back  into  belief."  As  if  mere 
diligent  study  could  restore  any  one  who  had  fallen  from  the  faith  ! 
Whereas,  without  considering  what  circumstances,  beside  the  read- 
ing of  infidel  books,  led  him  to  infidelity,  or  what  commencing  un- 
soundness led  him  to  follow  up  the  reading  of  infidel  books,  on  which 
he  was  not  competent  to  judge  ; — the  very  fact  of  reading  at  one 
time  infidel,  at  another  Christian,  writings,  implies  that  the  frame  of 
mind  was  different  at  each  time  ;  so  that  by  his  own  account,  other 
causes  must  have  combined  both  to  his  fall,  and  his  restoration. 
Again,  he  himself  incidentally  shows  that,  though  a  sceptic,  he  still 
continued  to  exercise  considerable  self-denial,  for  the  welfare  of 
others  :  so  that  among  the  instruments  of  his  restored  faith,  may 
have  been  one  which  he  omitted,  that  his  benevolence,  like  that  of 
Cornelius,  and  the  prayers  of  those,  whom  he  benefitted,  went  up  as 
a  memorial  before  God.*  But  if  we  can  be  mistaken,  even  as  to  the 
influence  of  what  we  have  tried,  much  more  assuredly  must  we,  in 
spiritual  matters,  be  in  ignorance  of  what  we  have  not  tried.  We 
may  have  some  intimation  with  regard  to  such  questions,  whether  of 
doctrine  or  of  practice,  from  the  experience  of  good  men  ;  but  so  far 
from  being  judges  about  them,  it  will  often  happen  that  precisely 
what  we  are  most  inclined  to  disparage,  will  be  that  which  is  most 
needful  for  us.  For,  since  all  religious  truth  or  practice  is  a  correc- 
tive or  purifier  of  our  natural  tendencies,  we  shall  generally  be  in  ig- 
norance beforehand,  what  will  so  correct  or  purify  them.  Our  own 
palate  is  disordered,  our  own  eye  dimmed  :  until  God  then  has  re- 
stored, by  His  means,  our  spiritual  taste,  or  our  spiritual  vision,  we 
should  select  for  ourselves  very  blindly  or  undistinguishingly.  In 
matter  of  fact,  the  Cliristian  creed  has  been  repeatedly  pared  down, 

*  Knox's  Correspondence,  t.  ii.  p.  586,  7.  "  It  has  often  struck  me  that 
probably  this  good  man  was  rewarded  for  his  fraternal  piety  by  his  providen- 
tial conversion  to  Christianity." 


as  every  one  knows,  in  consequence  of  men's  expunging  beforehand, 
what  they  thought  prejudicial  to  the  effect  of  the  other  portions  of 
Scripture  truth.  Thus,  early  Heretics  objected  to  the  truth  of  the 
human  nature  of  Christ :  against  the  Reformers  it  was  urged  that 
the  doctrine  of  "justification  by  faith  only"  was  opposed  to  sanctifi- 
cation  and  holiness  :  Luther,  (although  he  afterwards  repented,)  ex- 
cepted against  God's  teaching  by  St.  James,  and  called  his  Epistle 
an  "Epistle  of  straw  ;"  fanatics  of  all  ages  have  rejected  the  use  of 
both  Sacraments  :  stated  or  premeditated  prayer  has  been  regarded 
as  mere  formality,  and  the  like.  And  in  these  or  similar  cases, 
when  at  a  distance,  we  can  readily  see  how  some  wrong  tendency 
of  mind  suggested  all  these  objections,  and  how  the  very  truth  or 
practice  objected  to,  would  have  furnished  the  antidote  which  the 
case  needed.  We  can  see  e.  g.  how  stated  or  fixed  prayer  would 
have  disciplined  the  mind,  how  a  form  would  have  tended  to  make 
the  subjects  of  prayer  more  complete  :  for  we  ourselves  have  felt, 
how,  by  the  prayers  which  the  Church  has  put  into  our  mouths,  we 
have  been  taught  to  pray  for  blessings,  our  need  of  which  we  might 
not  have  perceived,  or  which  we  might  have  thought  it  presumption 
to  pray  for.  And  ihis  is  a  sort  of  witness  placed  in  our  hands,  to  tes- 
tify to  us,  how  in  other  cases  also  we  ought  with  thankful  deference 
to  endeavor  to  incorporate  into  the  frame  of  our  own  minds  each  por- 
tion of  the  system  which  God  has  ordained  for  us,  not  daring  to  call 
any  thing  of  little  moment,  which  He  has  allowed  to  enter  into  it ; 
much  less  presuming  to  "call  that  common,  which  God  hath 
cleansed,"  or  to  imagine  that,  because  we  cannot  see  its  effects  or 
should  think  it  likely  to  be  injurious,  it  may  not  be  both  healthful 
and  essential. 

The  doctrine,  then,  of  Baptismal  Regeneration  (rightly  understood) 
may  have  a  very  important  station  in  God's  scheme  of  salvation, 
although  many  of  us  may  not  understand  its  relation  to  the  rest  of 
that  dispensation,  and  those  who  do  not  believe  it,  ca77??oi  understand 
it.  For  thus  is  the  method  of  God's  teaching  throughont;  "first,  be- 
lieve and  then  ye  shall  understand."*  And  this  may  be  said,  in  Christ- 
ian warning,  against  those  hard  words,  in  which  Christians  sometimes 
allow  lliemselves  ;  as,  "  the  deadening  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Re- 
generation ;"  language  which  can  only  serve  to  darken  the  truth  to 
those  who  use  it,  and  which  is  by  so  much  the  more  dangerous,  since 
all  Christians  believe  that  Regeneration  sometimes  accompanies 
Baptism.     Since,  also  Baptismal   Regeneration  was  the  doctrine  of 

*  "We  are  not  therefore  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
because  miscreants  in  scorn  have  upbraided  us,  that  the  highest  point  of  our 
wisdom  is.  Believe.  That  which  is  true,  and  neither  can  be  discerned  by 
sense  nor  concluded  by  mere  natural  principles,  must  have  principles  of  re- 
vealed truth  whereupon  to  build  itself,  and  an  habit  of  Faith  in  us,  where- 
with principles  of  that  kind  are  apprehended." — Hooker,  L.  v.  ^  63. 


10 

the  Universal  Church  of  Christ  in  its  hoHest  ages,  and  our  o\vn  re- 
formers (to  whom,  on  other  points,  men  are  wont  to  appeal  as  having 
been  highly  gifted  with  God's  Holy  Spirit)  retained  this  doctrine,  it 
would  seem  to  require  but  little  modesty  in  a  private  Christian,  not 
to  feel  so  confident  in  his  own  judgment,  as  to  denounce,  in  terms  so 
unmeasured,  w-hat  may  after  all  be  the  teaching  of  God  ;  "  lest  haply 
he  be  found  to  fight  against  God." 

Others  again,  holding  rightly  the  necessity  of  Regeneration  for 
every  one  descended  of  Adam,  would  strongly  set  forth  this  neces- 
sity ;  but  whether  God  have  ordinarily  annexed  this  gift  to  Baptism, 
this  they  would  have  passed  over  as  a  difl[icult  or  curious  question. 
They  bid  men  to  examine  themselves  whether  they  have  the  fruits  of 
regeneration  ;  if  not,  to  pray  that  they  be  regenerate.  "  This  abso- 
lute necessity  of  regeneration,"  they  say,  "is  the  cai'dinal  point ;  this 
is  wliat  we  practically  want  for  rousing  men  to  the  sense  of  their 
danger,  and  for  the  saving  of  their  souls  :  what  privileges  may  have 
been  bestowed  upon  them  in  Baptism,  or,  in  a  happier  state  of  the 
Christian  Chrich,  might  not  only  be  then  universally  bestowed,  but 
be  realized  in  life,  is  of  lesser  moment :  regeneration,  and  the 
necessity  thereof,  is  the  kernel ;  these  and  other  questions  about 
outw'ard  ordinances,  are  but  the  husk  only  :  regeneration  and  'jus- 
tification by  faith  only'  are  the  key-stones  of  the  whole  fabric."  I 
would,  by  the  way,  protest  against  such  illustrations,  whereby  men, 
too  commonly,  embolden  themselves  to  call  any  portion  of  God's  in- 
stitution for  our  salvation,  "  husk,"  or  *'  shell,"  or  the  like  :  let  it 
seem  to  us  never  so  external,  it  can  in  no  stage  of  the  Christian 
course  be  dispensed  with,  which  these  similitudes  would  imply. 
Rather,  if  we  use  any  image,  we  might  better  speak  of  the  whole 
Gospel  as  an  elixir  of  immortality,  whereof  some  ingredients  may  be 
more  powerful  than  the  rest,  but  the  efficacy  of  the  whole  depends 
upon  the  attemperament  of  the  several  portions  ;  and  we,  who  formed 
neither  our  own  souls,  nor  this  cure  for  them,  dare  not  speak  slight- 
ingly of  the  necessity  of  anjj-  portion.  Doubtless  there  are  truths, 
which  in  one  sense  (comparatively  speaking)  may  be  called  the  great 
truths  of  Christianity,  as  embodying  in  them  a  larger  portion  of  the 
counsel  of  God,  and  exhibiting  more  fully  His  attributes  of  holiness 
and  love.  Better  perhaps,  and  more  Scripturally  might  we  speak  of 
the  truth, — the  Gospel  itself ;  yet  there  is  no  evil  in  that  other  ex- 
pression, if  intended  solely  as  the  language  of  thankfulness  for  the 
great  instances  of  His  mercy  therein  conveyed.  If  used,  on  the  other 
hand, — I  will  not  say  disparagingly,  but — as  in  any  way  conveying 
an  impression  that  other  doctrines  are  not  in  their  place  essential,  or 
that  we  can  assign  to  each  truth  its  class  or  place  in  the  Divine  eco- 
nomy, or  weigh  its  value,  or  measure  its  importance,  then  are  we 
again  forgetting  our  own  relation  to  God,  and  from  the  corner  of  His 
world  in  which  we  are  placed,  would  fain  judge  of  the  order  and  cor- 


11 

respondencies  and  harmonies  of  things,  which  can  only  be  seen  or 
judged  of,  from  the  centre,  which  is  God  Himself.  We  cannot, 
without  great  danger,  speak  of  lesser,  or  less  essential,  truths,  and 
doctrines,  and  ordinances,  both  because  the  passage  from  "  less  es- 
sential," to  "  unessential,"  is  unhappily  but  too  easy,  and  because  al- 
though these  truths  may  appear  to  relate  to  subjects  further  lemoved 
from  what  ive  think  the  centre  of  Christianity,  the  mode  in  which  we 
hold  them,  or  our  neglect  of  them,  may  very  vitally  affect  those  which 
we  consider  more  primary  truths.  We  can  readily  see  this  in  cases 
in  which  we  are  not  immediately  involved.  Thus  we  can  see  how 
a  person's  whole  views  of  Sanctification  by  the  Holy  Ghost  will  be 
affected  by  Hoadly's  low  notions  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  or  how  the 
error  of  Transubstantiation  has  modified  other  true  doctrines  so  as  to 
cast  into  the  shade  the  one  oblation  once  offered  upon  the  Cross ; 
or  how  the  addition  of  the  single  practice  of  "  soliciting  the  Saint? 
to  pray  for  men,"  has  in  the  Romish  Church  obscured  the  primary 
articles  of  Justification  and  of  the  Intercession  of  our  Blessed  Lord  ; 
and  yet  Transubstantiation  was  at  first  connected  with  high  reveren- 
tial feeling  for  our  Lord,  and  no  one  could  have  anticipated  before- 
hand, that  this  one  eiTor  would  have  had  effects  so  tremendous.  If 
then  wrong  notions  about  the  one  Sacrament,  among  both  Romanists 
and  Pseudo-Protestants,  have  had  an  influence  so  extensive,  why 
should  we  think  error  with  regard  to  the  other,  of  slight  moment  ? 
Rather,  should  we  not  more  safely  argue,  that  since  Baptism  is  a 
Sacrament  ordained  by  Christ  Himself,  a  low,  or  inadequate,  or  un- 
worthy conception  of  His  institution,  must,  of  necessity,  almost,  be 
very  injurious  to  the  whole  of  our  belief  and  practice  ?  Does  not  our 
very  reverence  to  our  Saviour  require  that  we  should  think  any  thing, 
which  He  deigned  to  institute,  of  very  primary  moment, — not  (as 
some  seem  now  to  think)  simply  to  be  obeyed  or  complied  with,  but 
to  be  embraced  with  a  glad  and  thankful  recognition  of  its  importance, 
because  He  instituted  it  ? 

The  other  point,  which  was  mentioned  as  important  to  be  borne  in 
mind,  in  the  enquiry  whether  any  doctrine  be  a  Scriptural  truth,  was 
that  we  should  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  influenced  by  the  supposed 
religious  character  of  those  whom  we  happen  to  know  of,  as  holding 
it,  on  the  contrary.  This  we  should  again  see  to  be  a  very  delusive 
criterion,  in  a  case  where  we  have  no  temptation  to  apply  it :  we 
should  at  once  admit  that  Pascal  and  Nicole  were  holy  men,  nay, 
that  whole  bodies  of  men  in  the  Church  of  Rome  had  arrived  at  a 
height  of  holiness,  and  devotion,  and  self-denial,  and  love  of  God, 
which  in  this  our  day  is  rarely  to  be  seen  in  our  Apostolic  Church : 
yet  we  should  not  for  a  moment  doubt  that  our  Church  is  the  pure 
Church,  although  her  sons  seem  of  late  but  rarely  to  have  grown  up 
to  that  degree  of  Christian  maturity,  which  might  have  been  hoped 
from  the  nurture  of  such  a  mother:  we  should  not  think  the  compa- 


12 

rative  holiness  of  these  men  of  God  any  test  as  to  the  truth  of  any- 
one characteristic  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  We  should 
rightly  see  that  the  holiness  of  these  men  was  not  owing  to  the  dis- 
tinctive doctrines  of  their  Church ;  but  that  God  had  ripened  the 
seed  of  life  which  he  had  sown  in  their  hearts,  notwithstanding  the 
corrupt  mixture  with  which  our  Enemy  had  hoped  to  choke  it :  we 
should  rightly  attribute  the  apparent  comparative  failure  among 
ourselves  in  these  times,  not  to  our  not  possessing  the  truth,  but  to 
our  slothful  use  of  the  abundant  treasures  which  God  has  bestowed 
upon  us.  They  hold  the  great  Catholic  truths  of  our  Creeds,  and 
much  of  the  self-discipline  (as  fasting),  or  means  of  grace  (as  more 
frequent  prayer),  which  modern  habits  have  relinquished  ;  and  these 
have  brought  their  fruit :  yet  we  should  not  infer  that  all  which  they 
held  was  true,  because  they  were  holy.  Holiness,  (whether  pro- 
duced in  the  teacher  or  the  taught)  proves  the  presence  of  some 
truth,  not  of  the  whole  truth,  nor  the  purity  of  that  truth.  And  so 
also,  with  regard  to  any  doctrine  in  which  persons  either  within  or 
without  our  Church  may  depart  from  her  ;  no  one  can  say  with  confi- 
dence, that  the  superior  holiness  of  any  who  do  not  accept  it,  is 
attributable  to  their  not  accepting  it.  Since  it  may  be  only  that  by 
their  rejection  of  this  one  truth,  they  have  not  forfeited  the  blessing 
of  God  upon  the  other  truths,  which  they  yet  hold  :  while  others  who 
do  hold  it,  may  be  holding  it  in  name  only,  and  may  never  have  ex- 
amined the  treasure  committed  to  them,  or  stirred  up  the  gift  that  is 
in  them.  It  may  be  (to  speak  plainly)  that  many  who  deny  or  doubt 
about  Baptismal  Regeneration,  have  been  made  holy  and  good  men, 
and  yet  have  sustained  a  loss  in  not  holding  this  truth  :  and  again, 
that  others  may  nominallv  have  held  it,  and  yet  never  have  thought 
of  the  greatness  or  significance  of  what  they  professed  to  hold.  If, 
again,  right  practice  were  a  test  of  doctrine,  then  could  there  be  no 
such  tiling  as  '  holding'*  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  for  which  hovv- 

*  Or  "  hold  down  the  truth,"  Rom.  i.  18,  but  Karcyr.)  is  used  without  empha- 
sisj  Luke  xiv.  9.  for  "  take,"  "  hold  ;"  &nd  2  Thess.  ii.  6.  it  signifies  "  hinder ;" 
Luke  iv.  42.  "  detain,"  not  "  keep  dov/n."  The  doubt  was  not  alluded  to  (Ed. 
i.,)  because  it  does  not  in  the  least  affect  the  argument.  In  either  case  the 
truth  is  i7i  the  persons,  whether  they  keep  it  for  a  time,  and  then  at  last  lose  it, 
or  forcibly  keep  it  down,  and  repress  it  from  rising  up,  and  being  present  to  their 
minds  and  influencing  them.  And  so  St.  Paul,  verse  19,  directly  asserts  that 
"  that  which  might  be  known  of  God  was  manifest  in  them,  for  God  hath  showed 
it  unto  them  ;"  and  this  is  e.Kplained,  verse  20,  to  be,  "  His  invisible  power  and 
Godhead  ;"  and,  verse  21,  he  says,  "  they  knew  God."  Their  condemnation 
was  not  that  they  knew  not  God,  for  then,  in  comparison,  "  they  had  had  no 
sin,"  (John  ix.  41.,)  but  that  they  knew  Him  and  yet  acted  against  their  know- 
ledge by  "  changing  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  unto  corruptible  man,"  and  so  at  last  God  gave  them  up  unto  an  undis- 
tinguishing  (a(idf  i^o?)  mind  ;  so  that,  at  last,  they  lost  the  knowledge  also.  And 
so  it  is  with  individuals ;  men  act  at  first  against  the  light  and  truth  in  them, 
and  afterwards,  and  at  length  only,  is  the  light  withdrawn.  See  St.  August. 
Tract,  2.  in  Joann.  §  4. 


13 

ever  the  Apostle  pronounces  the  condemnation  of  the  heathen.  Fur- 
ther, if  the  comparison  were  any  test  at  all,  it  must  manifestly  be 
made  not  at  one  period  only,  but  throughout  the  time  that  such  doc- 
trine has  been  held  by  the  Church  ;  one  must  compare,  not  the  men 
of  our  own  day  only,  but  those  of  all  former  times,  Confessors,  Saints, 
and  Martyrs,  which  were  impossible !  This  is  not  said,  as  if  we  were 
competent  judges  even  as  to  our  own  times,  or  as  if  any  could  be, 
but  God  alone,  who  searcheth  the  hearts  ;  for  if  the  number  of  those 
who  being  earnest-minded  and  zealous  men,  do  not  hold  Baptismal 
Regeneration,  were  increased  an  hundred  fold,  or  if  those  who  im- 
agining that  they  hold  Baptismal  Regeneration,  do  in  fact  use  it  as 
a  screen  to  hide  from  themselves  the  necessity  of  the  complete  actual 
change  of  mind  and  disposition  necessary  to  them,  were  many  more 
than  they  are, — still,  who  can  tell  to  how  many  thousands,  or  tens  of 
thousands,  this  same  doctrine  has  been  the  blessed  means  of  a  con- 
tinued child-like  growth  in  grace,  who  have  been  silently  growing  up, 
supported  by  the  inestimable  privilege  of  having  been  made  God's 
children,  before  they  themselves  knew  good  or  evil ;  who  have  on 
the  whole  been  uniformly,  kept  within  Christ's  fold,  and  are  now 
"  heartily  thanking  their  heavenly  Father  for  having  called  them" 
thus  early  to  this  state  of  salvation,  into  which,  had  it  been  left  to 
their  frail  choice,  they  had  never  entered  ;  who  rejoice  with  "  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  that  they  were  placed  in  the  Ark  of 
Christ's  Church,  and  not  first  called,  of  themselves  to  take  refuge  in 
it  out  of  the  ruins  of  a  lost  world.* 

Most  of  this,  people  will  in  the  abstract  readily  acknowledge  ; 
even  if  they  are  not  conscious  of  the  full  value  of  the  Church,  as  an 
Interpreter  of  Holy  Scriptures,  still  they  will  confess  that  Scripture 
is  the  only  ultimate  authority  in  matters  of  Faith,  and  that  in  search- 
ing it  they  ought  not  to  be  biassed  by  any  questions  of  expediency, 
or  grounds  distinct  from  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  Inspired  word  : 
and  yet  they  will  probably  find  on  examination  that  some  of  these 
irrelevant  grounds  have  occasioned  them  to  hold  Baptismal  Regene- 
ration to  be  an  unscriptural  doctrine.  If  they  examined  Scripture 
at  all,  yet  still  the  supposed  effects  of  this,  and  of  a  contrary  doctrine, 
the  supposed  character  of  those  who  hold  it,  or  the  reverse,  were  in 

*  "  They  with  whom  we  contend  are  no  enemies  to  the  Baptism  of  infants; 
it  is  not  their  desire  that  the  Church  should  hazard  so  many  souls  by  letting 
them  run  on  till  they  come  to  ripeness  of  understanding,  that  so  they  may  be 
converted  and  then  baptized,  as  Infidels  heretofore  have  been  ;  they  bear  not 
towards  God  so  unthankful  minds  as  not  to  acknowledge  it  even  among  the 
greatest  of  His  endless  mercies,  that  by  making  us  His  own  possession  so  soon 
many  advantages  which  Satan  otherwise  might  take  are  prevented,  and  (which 
should  be  esteemed  a  part  of  no  small  happiness)  the  first  thing  whereof  we 
have  occasion  to  take  notice  is,  how  much  hath  been  done  already  to  our  good, 
though  altogether  without  our  knowledge." — Hooker,  b.  v.  J  64.  p.  287. 


14 

fact  their  rule  for  interpreting  Scripture  ;  or  perhaps  wearied  with 
the  controversy  (which  is  and  must  be  in  itself  an  evil)  they  came 
to  the  conclusion  that,  if  we  but  hold  the  necessity  of  Regeneration, 
it  matters  not  when  we  suppose  it  to  take  place  ;  thus  assuming,  in 
fact,  the  unscripturalness  of  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regeneration, 
since  if  God  has  connected  Regeneration  with  Baptism,  it  must  be 
of  importance. 

This  is  very  natural ;  for  men  must  lean  upon  something.  Our 
Reformers,  in  their  interpretation  of  Scripture,  besides  the  divine 
means  of  prayer,  leant  on  the  consent  and  agreement  of  the  "  old  holy 
Catholic  Doctors,"  who  had  received  their  doctrine  immediately,  or 
but  at  a  little  interval,  from  the  Apostles,  when  every  link  almost  in 
the  chain  was  a  saint  and  martyr.  The  agreement  of  the  Church  was 
to  them  the  evidence  of  God's  speaking  in  the  Church.  But  now 
that  men  have  forgotten  these  maxims,  and  the  blessed  dead  who  re- 
sisted unto  blood  Heathen  malice,  and  established  and  fixed  for  us 
the  Creeds  wherein  we  find  rest,  and  look  upon  deference  to  the 
Church  almost  as  a  relic  of  Papal  errors,  man,  since  he  is  not  made 
to  be  independent,  leans  upon  his  fellows  ;  and  the  supposed  spiritual 
character  of  individuals  is  made  the  test  of  truth.  Man  cannot  es- 
cape from  authority  :  the  question  only,  in  religious  truth,  as  in  civil 
society  or  in  private  life,  is,  whose  authority  he  will  follow. 

This  aaode  of  judging  is  indeed  a  tacit  recognition  of  external  au- 
thority; those  who  adopt  it  have  virtually  renounced  the  narrow  and 
cold  notion  of  individual  judgment,  and  taken  refuge  from  it  in  that 
of  a  body  of  Christians  ;  they  adopt  and  imitate  the  principles  of  our 
Church,  which  refers  us  to  the  agreement  of  Catholic  antiquity,  only 
that  unhappily  they  take  as  a  test  moderns  instead  of  ancients  ;  those 
who  arose  after  the  waters  had  been  polluted,  instead  of  those  who 
lived  near  the  source  ;  a  section  of  the  Church,  instead  of  the  Church 
itself.  They  are  thereby  necessarily  much  narrowed  in  their  choice, 
substituting  a  sort  of  Ultra-Protestant  Popery  of  one  or  more  individ- 
uals, for  the  Catholic  unity  of  all  times  and  Churches. 

The  several  controversies  with  individuals,  again  have  led  to  some 
false  maxims  as  to  the  tests  of  truth  :  for,  instead  of  setting  forth 
against  these  despisers,  the  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  a  whole 
— that  it  is  *'  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth,"  that  "the  truth,"  i.e.  the  t«^oZe  Gospel,  "will  set  free" 
those  who  receive  it,  men  have  dwelt  too  much  upon  its  natural  ten- 
dency, as  they  deem  it,  to  produce  such  or  such  effects,  upon  the 
efficacy  of  particular  doctrines,  or  its  contrast  in  such  or  such  points 
with  other  religions;  thereby  fostering  the  conviction  that  we  are 
much  more  judges  in  these  matters  than  we  are.  These  men,  how- 
ever, were  contented  with  contrasting  Christianity,  or  parts  thereof, 
with  that  which  was  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Gospel  ;  and  for  this  hap- 
pily, a  more  general  and  superficial  view  and  statement  of  doctrine 


15 

sufficed :  others  have  arisen,  who  have  applied  this  same  test  within 
the  compass  of  Christianity,  contrasted  the  supposed  efficacy  of  one 
doctrine  with  another ;  and  thus  we  have  made  ourselves  judges  in 
matters  yet  more  beyond  our  grasp.  Undoubtedly  faithful  and  sound 
preaching  is  likely,  by  God's  blessing,  to  produce  a  harvest :  the 
holy  and  earnest  life  of  a  religious  pastor  is  a  yet  more  powerful  ser- 
mon ;  his  performance  of  his  weekly  duties,  his  greater  watchful- 
ness over  the  right  dispensation  of  the  Sacraments,  his  more  earnest 
prayers  are  also  means  of  promoting  God's  kingdom.  Obviously, 
then,  the  blessed  effects  of  a  v/hole  ministry  cannot  be  made  a  test 
of  the  truth  of  each  doctrine  preached  ;  and  yet  more  obviously  per- 
haps on  this  ground,  that  there  is  not  complete  agreement  in  the  doc- 
trines, the  preaching  of  which  is  attended  with  these  apparent  effects : 
add  also,  that  even  in  this  way,  one  must  judge  not  by  the  preaching  of 
those,  who  being  already  full  of  fervor  preached  these  doctrines,  but 
by  that  of  their  disciples  ;*  for  it  may  be  that  that  influence  was 
owing  to  the  fervor  of  the  individuals,  not  to  the  entire  truth  of  their 
system.  For  since  we  do  not  think  that  incidental  error  will  mar 
the  benefit  of  a  whole  ministry,  or  that  fallible  man,  though  richly 
endowed  by  God's  Spirit,  is  yet  rendered  infallible,  we  cannot  infer 
that  because  his  teaching  is  blessed,  therefore  every  portion  of  it 
must  be  sound.  Rather  one  might  infer  from  the  fact  that  the  same 
doctrines  when  preached  by  a  less  gifted  follower,  have  not  the  same 
efficacy,  that  the  former  efficacy  was  not  to  be  referred  to  the  truth 
of  each  doctrine,  which  was  preached,  but  to  the  Spirit  of  God, 
with  which  each  faithful  minister  is  endowed.  Had  the  effect  been 
the  result  of  the  whole  doctrine,  and  of  that  only,  the  effects  had 
been  more  uniform.  Lastly,  we  must  look  not  to  immediate  only 
but  to  lasting  effects,  not  only  to  the  foundation  but  to  the  super- 
structure. This  arguing  from  the  supposed  effects  of  a  system,  as 
it  is  at  this  day  the  plea  for  every  irregularity,  so  is  it  most  used  by 
a  body  where  the  good  effects  are  the  least  lasting,  and  subsequently 
are  fearfully  neutralized  ;  and  it  is  in  great  part  owing  to  the  absence 
of  this  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regeneration,  that  while  a  foundation 
is  so  often  laid,  the  edifice  of  Christian  piety  among  us  still  bears 
such  low  and  meagre  proportions,  and  still  further,  that  there  is  not 
more  of  early  Christianity  among  us.  As  of  course,  if  it  is  a  Scrip- 
tural truth,  the  neglect  of  preaching  it  must  be  a  loss  as  well  as  a 
neghgence. 

These  observationsf  are  not  made  under  any  idea  that  they  who 

♦  Thus  the  early  Pietists  in  Germany,  whose  system  and  practice  much  re- 
sembled that  of  the  body  here  alluded  to,  liad,  from  their  personal  character, 
a  great,  and  for  the  time  a  blessed  influence  ;  but  they  shook  the  Lutheran 
body,  and  prepared  the  way  for  its  downfall :  tlieir  successors  with  the  same 
system  had  no  weight. 

t  The  following  remarks  are  made  reluctantly  now,  (Ed.  ii.)  because,  in  a 
controversal  M'riting,  what  had  been  said  above  has  been  construed  into  an  ad- 


16 

oppose  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regeneration  are  more  zealous  and 
earnest  than  they  who  preach  it ;  quite  the  contrary  ;  they  who  be- 
heve  and  reaUze  the  height  of  the  gift  of  God  in  Baptism  must,  in 
the  behef  of  the  great  things  which  God  has  done  for  them  and  His 
whole  Ciiurch,  have  a  source  of  solemn  responsibility  and  deep  awe, 
and  humble  amazement  of  God's  graciousness,  peculiar  to  them- 
selves :  and  in  proportion  as  they  are  penetrated  with  it,  their  preach- 
ing must  be  also  raised.  One  may  appeal  safely  on  this  point  to 
the  solid,  subdued,  but  sublime  eloquence  of  the  early  Church,  or  to 
those  of  our  own  who  in  older  times  most  realized  their  Baptismal 
gifts.  Baptismal  Regeneration,  as  connected  with  the  Incarnation  of 
our  Blessed  Lord,  gives  a  depth  to  our  Christian  existence,  an  actu- 
alness  to  our  union  with  Christ,  a  reality  to  our  sonship  to  God,  an 
int  rest  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord's  glorified  Body  at  God's  right 
hand,  a  joyousness  amid  the  subduing  of  the  flesh,  an  overwhelming- 
ness  to  the  dignity  conferred  on  human  nature,  a  solemnity  to  the 
communion  of  saints,  who  are  the  fulness  of  Him  who  filleth  all  in 
all,  a  substantiality  to  the  indwelling  of  Christ,  that  to  those  who  re- 
lain  this  truth,  the  school  which  abandoned  it  must  needs  appear  to 
have  sold  its  birthright.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  hold  Baptismal  Re- 
generation, and  another  to  hold  merely  that  there  is  no  regeneration 
subsequent  to  Baptism.  A  mere  negative  view  must  always  be  a 
cold  one.  Any  careless  person  may  hold  Baptismal  Regeneration 
negatively  ;  they  only  can  hold  it  positively  and  in  its  depth,  who 
have  endeavored  to  realize  it.  Yet  as  well  might  we  urge  the  case 
of  the  Antinomian,  i.  e.  of  him  who  holds  justification  by  faith  nega- 
tively, in  opposition  to  the  necessity  of  good  works,  against  that  holy 
doctrine,  as  the  case  of  him  who  should  in  like  way  abuse  the  doc- 
trine of  Baptismal  Regeneration,  to  lower  the  greatness  of  subsequent 
holiness.  Both  may  be  abused  to  men's  own  destruction  ;  both  may 
be  blasphemed  in  consequence  of  their  being  held  in  name  only ; 
both  may  be  held  imperfectly,  and  inadequately;  nay,  both  in  this  life 
must  be  so  held;  yet  one  would  not  select  those  v/ho  hold  either,  and 
therewith  other  truths,  most  imperfectly,  as  the  specimens  of  the  ef- 
fects of  the  doctrine  in  itself.  Let  those  who  would  remonstrate 
against  any  such  injustice,  in  the  case  which  they  make  their  own, 
beware  how  they  be  themselves  guilty  of  the  like  injustice. 

But,  again,  it  might  very  well  be,  that  a  body  of  men,  having  much 
zeal  for  religion,  and  very  active  in  promoting  it,  might  yet  for  a  time 
be  in  error  upon  some  one  or  more  points ;  nay,  in  circumstances  such 
as  the  present  are  represented  to  be,  it  is  probable  that  it  would  be  so. 
It  is  professed  that  they  who  now  oppose  Baptismal  Regeneration, 
arrived  at  their  present  views  by  a  sort  of  reaction  ;  the  Church,  it 

mission  of  the  superiority  of  those  who  oppose  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Re- 
generation. The  author  wished,  while  he  might,  to  avoid  everything  directly 
bearing  on  modern  controversy. 


IT 

is  represented,  was  in  a  state  of  lethargy  and  coldness,  preaching 
moral  discourses,  and  forgetful  of  her  office  as  teacher  of  the  truth, 
when  certain  individuals  were  aroused,  and  preached  faithfully  the 
leading  truths  of  the  Gospel,  of  which  our  generation  is  reaping  the 
fruits.  In  hke  manner  individuals  who  oppose  the  same  doctrine, 
are  wont  to  refer  to  the  time  when  they  suppose  they  held  it,  as  a 
period  of  religious  apathy,  during  which  they  lulled  their  consciences 
with  the  notion  that,  having  by  Baptism  been  made  children  of  God, 
they  had  nothing  further  to  do.*  In  either  case  (whether  of  individ- 
uals or  bodies,)  it  is  probable  that  they  would  arrive  at  a  portion  only 
of  the  truth.  It  is  not  in  these  sudden  reactions  that  God  generally 
imparts  a  consistent  enlarged  view  of  truth.  To  such  he  gives  w^hat 
is  most  needful  for  them,  and  they  are  often  energetic  preachers  of 
conversion;  but  the  deeper,  calmer,  insight  into  truth,  He  usually 
reserves  for  those  (whether  bodies  or  individuals)  whom  he  has  gently 
led,  and  who  have  on  the  whole  equably  followed  his  leading.  Un- 
der the  elder  dispensation,  scAooZsof  the  prophets  were  formed,  so  soon 
as  God  purposed  to  raise  up  a  succession  of  teachers  for  His  Church; 
from  very  youth  were  they  to  be  traiiied  to  the  service  of  the  Lord, 
Samuel  himself,  who  was  appointed  to  form  them,  was  before  his 
birth  consecrated  to  the  Lord,  and  formed  in  His  temple  ;  the  forerun 
ner  of  the  Lord  was  sanctified  from  his  mother's  womb  ;  and  of  the 
Apostles  whom  He  chose,  the  saintly  disciple  whom  He  loved,  who 
loved  most  early,  steadily,  boldly,  alone  by  the  Cross,  was  chosen 
further  that  he  should 

*'  Armed  in  his  station  wait, 
Till  his  Lord  be  at  the  gate  ;" 

forming  and  carrying  on  the  Church  when  the  rest  v/ere  removed, 
.  and  (through  his  disciple  St.  Polycai'p)  the  author  of  the  earliest 
school  of  Christian  doctors  for  the  transmission  of  sound  doctrine. 
So  also  in  later  times,  they  to  whom,  in  her  hour  of  need,  the  Church 
of  Christ  has  been  most  indebted  for  the  maintenance  of  purity  of 
life  and  doctrine,  St.  Basil,t  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  St,  Athana- 

*  Hence  such  persons  persist  in  calling  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regene- 
oration  "  deadening,"  and  ^'  soul-destroying,"  because  tkey  held  it  amiss,  and 
•so  it  became  deadening  to  them  ;  e.  g.  "  A  Tract  for  the  Times  in  Reply  to 
the  Oxford  Tracts,"  p.  1.  &  13,  notes. 

t  St.  Basil,  chiefly  by  his  grandmother  Macrina,  a  confessor  of  the  Catholic 
Faith,  and  a  disciple  of  St.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  ;  St.  Gregory  of  Nazian- 
zum, by  the  excellent  Nonna,  who,  like  Hannah,  dedicated  her  son  to  God 
from  the  womb,  and  soon  after  his  birth,  placing  the  Gospel  in  his  hand,  de- 
voted him  at  the  Altar  to  the  service  of  the  Lord,  as  was  St.  Ephraim  also, 
the  son  of  Confessors  -,  St.  Athanasius,  by  very  pious  parents,  and  then  by  the 
•saintly  Alexander  the  Bishop ;  St.  Ambrose,  by  his  sister  Marcellina,  who 
"devoted  herself  to  celibacy,  that  she  might  the  more  "  care  for  the  things  of 
■the  Lord ;"  St.  Chrisostom,  by  his  mother  Anthusa  who  lived  a  widow  irom 
her  twentieth  year,  retiring  from  the  world,  wherewith  she  was  connected,  to 
«ievote  herself  to  educate  her  son. 


sius  the  Great,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Chrysostom,  St.  Epliraim,  were, 
by  pious  mothers,  sisters,  grandmothers,  bishops,  piously  trained, 
and  grew  up  in  that  ripening  piety  ;  or  else,  as  St.  Hilary  and  St, 
Cyprian,  born  healhens,  faithfully  followed  God's  earliest  guidance 
to  the  truth.  St.  Augustine,  on  the  other  hand, — although  his  wan- 
derings were  before  he  received  the  seal  of  Baptism,  and  through 
subsequent  steadfastness  he  became,  as  it  were,  a  guardian  angel  to 
the  Church,  standing  in  the  gap  against  Pelagianism, — yet  propagat- 
ed or  introduced  error  into  the  Church  along  with  the  good  seed, 
was  the  author  of  a  stern  theory  of  predestination,  and  through  his 
statements,  a  chief  promoter  of  the  belief  in  Purgatory. 

It  is,  then,  even  probable,  on  the  very  view  of  the  cas€  set  forth 
by  the  adherents  of  this  system,  that  men  or  parties,  so  circum- 
stanced, should  in  this  sudden  recovery  have  seized  hold  of  certain 
prominent  truths,  applied  them  forcibly,  but  have  forgotten  others, 
"which  still  are  essential  to  their  perfect  use  and  truth.  They  have 
re-erected  the  temple  of  God,  but  it  has  no  longer  Aaron's  rod  that 
budded,  nor  the  Manna,  nor  the  Shechtnah — the  full  truth  of  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  Lord  in  His  Church.  It  was  so  in  the  Swiss  refor- 
mation, whose  traditions  of  doctrine  and  exposition;  of  Scripture,  those 
of  the  school  in  question  have  engrafted  upon  the  Church  :  and  as  in 
the  early  reformation,  many  of  the  German  Reformers,  together  with 
the  truths  which  they  learned  from  St.  Augustine,  imbibed  from  him 
also  a  rigid  predestinarian  theory,  and  subsequently  relaxed  it,  so 
now,  together  with  the  truths  which  Calvin,  (the  parent,  as  it  were, 
of  their  reformation,)  intended  to  advocate,  men  have  unwittingly 
entertained  also  his  deep  disparagement  of  the  Sacraments,  whereby 
he  corrupted  the  truths  which  he  held.  They  received  boih  together; 
and  because  the  doctrine  of  Baptismal  regeneration  must  correct  his 
view  of  "justification  by  faith,"  they  think  it  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
in  itself.  Their  views  then  are  defective,  in  that,  arising  (according 
to  their  own  statement,)  in  a  cold  period  of  the  Church,  they  seized 
upon  certain  principal  truths,*  as  the  means  of  restoring  the  energy 
of  the  Church,  or  of  rousing  men  from  their  lethargy  ;  but  as  men 

*  It  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  Dr.  Chalmers'  testtmoTiy,  so  often  allegecl 
as  decisive  between  two  sorts  ot' preaching,  contrasts  simply  Christian  preach- 
ing, as  a  whole,  and  Heathenism.  For  what  Dr.  C  speaks  of  is  "  pressing  the 
reformations  of  honor  and  truth  and  integrity,  the  virtues  and  proprieties  of 
social  life" — "  subordinate  reformations."  U'hy  so  might  Cicero  have  preach- 
ed. A  mode  of  preaching  "  wherein  Christ  was  scarcely  iver  spoken  of,  or 
spoken  of  in  such  a  way  as  s-tripped  Him  of  all  the  importance  of  His  character 
and  offices,"  has  obviously  nothing  to  do  with  any  thing  existing  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  nor  with  the  belief  that  Christ  imparts  His  gift  of  the  new  birth 
through  Baptism.  Bp.  Suirmer,  in  quoting  this  passage,  (Apost.  Preaching, 
c.  v.  end,)  keeps  the  same  contrast  between  Christianity  and  Heathenism,  or 
Christianity  as  a  republication  of  the  religion  of  nature.  This  is  aeWom  ob- 
served  by  thoae  who  quote  them. 


19 

awaking  from  a  slumber  in  alarm,  look  not  round  with  full  self-pos- 
session, they  let  slip  other  truths.  Without  deciding  as  to  the  whole 
extent  of  their  allegations,  the  eighteenth  century  was  comparatively 
a  stagnant  period  of  the  Church, — in  England,  owing  to  the  violent 
revolution,  whereby  so  many  of  her  best  members,  the  Non-juring 
Clergy,  were  ejected,  and  that  at  one  time,  the  State  set  itself  to  cor- 
rupt and  degrade  her,  and  her  writers  looked  for  strength  in  foreign 
alliances  ; — abroad  through  the  developement  of  the  principles  of  the 
ultra-reformation,  and  the  influence  of  degraded  England  and  corrupt- 
ed France,  But  this  very  fact,  while  it  accounts  for  the  weight  at- 
taching to  any  energetic,  though  partial,  statement  of  truth,  affords  a 
presumption,  that  persons  vehemently  aroused  at  that  period,  and 
connectmg  themselves  with  a  defective  reformation,  would  not  see 
the  whole  ;  their  influence  was  blessed  as  far  as  they  were  faithful, 
fell  short,  where  their  system  was  defective. 

A  happier  time,  we  trust,  is  dawning,  when  with  tiie  energy  for 
conversion  which  now  exists,  shall  be  combined  care  for  the  young, 
such  as  the  belief  in  God's  gift  through  Baptism  brings  with  it,  and 
the  holy  calmness  of  a  complete  faith. 

It  has  seemed  necessary  to  premise  thus  much,  both  because  the 
habits  of  mind  referred  to,  have  an  evil  tendency,  far  beyond  even 
this  one  important  subject,  and  also  because  the  difficulties  raised 
against  Baptismal  regeneration  seem  to  lie  entirely  in  these  collateral 
question.s,  not  in  the  defect  of  Scripture  evidence  for  its  truth.  They 
are  made,  however,  more  in  the  hope  of  removing  difficulties  from 
the  minds  of  such  as  have  not  yet  taken  any  decided,  line  against  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church,  than  of  convincing  such  as  have :  and  to  the 
former  only  will  the  evidence  proposed  be  addressed.  But  let  not 
others  think,  that  because  the  evidence  does  not  persuade  them,  this 
is  owing  to  its  want  of  validity  :  for  Scripture  evidence  is  through- 
out proposed  to  those  who  believe,  not  to  those  who  believe  not ;  it 
will  be  enough  for  tliose  who  "  continue  in  the  things  which  they  have 
learned,  and  have  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom  they  have  learn- 
ed them  ;"  (2  Tim.  iii.  14.)  but  there  is  no  promise  that  any,  be  they 
nations,  sects  or  individuals,  who  have  failed  to  hold  fast  to  tiiem, 
should  be  enabled  to  see  their  truth.  God  has  provided  an  institu- 
tion, the  Church,  to  "  hold  fast,"  and  to  convey  "  the  faithful  word  as 
they  had  been  taught."  (Tit.  ii.  2.)  He  ordered  that  the  immediate 
successors  of  the  Apostles  should  "commit  the  things  which  they 
had  heard  of  them  to  faithful  men,  who  should  be  able  to  teach  others 
also."  (2  Tim.  ii.  2.)  Whoever,  then,  neglects  this  ordinance  of 
God,  and  so  seeks  truth  in  any  other  way  than  God  has  directed  it 
to  be  sought,  has  no  ground  to  look  to  obtain  it ;  nay,  it  appears  to 
be  a  penalty  annexed  to  departure  from  this  channel  of  truth,  both 
in  individuals  and  bodies,  that  they  not  only  lose  all  insight  into  the 
Scripture  evidence  for  that  truth,  but  gradually  decline  furthei  from 


20 

it,  and  but  seldom,  and  not  without  extraordinary  effort,  recover. 
The  first  misgivings,  and  restrictions,  and  Umitations,  are  forgotten  ; 
what  was  originally  an  exception  is  made  a  rule  and  a  principle  :  and 
departures,  which  were  at  first  timidly  ventured  upon,  and  excused 
upon  the  necessity  of  the  case,  (as  that  of  Calvin  upon  the  episcopal 
ordination,  or  the  license  with  regard  to  the  authority  and  extent  of 
the  Canon  of  Scripture  among  several  denominations  of  Christians,) 
are  by  their  followers  looked  upon  as  matters  of  glory  and  of  boast, 
and  as  distinctive  marks  of  Protestantism.  For,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  dissatisfaction  generated  by  a  state  of  doubt  leads  us  to  prefer 
even  wrong  decision  to  suspense  or  misgiving  ;  we  "  force  ourselves 
to  do  this"  unbidden  "  sacrifice  :"  on  the  other,  our  natural  listless- 
ness  and  dislike  of  exertion  tempts  us  to  make  an  arbitrary  selection 
of  such  portions  of  the  vast  compass  of  Divine  Truth  as  is  most  con- 
genial to  ourselves,  (since  to  enter  equally  into  all  its  parts  costs 
much  efifort,)  and  this  done,  we  acquire  a  positive  distaste  for  such 
truth  as  we  have  not  adopted  into  what  is  practically  our  religious 
creed  :  we  dislike  having  our  religious  notions  disturbed ;  and  since 
no  truth  can  be  without  its  influence  upon  the  rest,  the  adoption  of 
any  forsaken  truth  involves  not  only  the  admission  of  a  foreign  and 
unaccustomed  ingredient,  but  threatens  to  compel  us  to  modify  much 
at  least  of  our  actual  system. 

My  object,  then,  in  the  following  pages  is  partly  to  help,  by  God's 
blessing,  to  relieve  the  minds  of  such  persons  as,  being  in  the  sacred 
ministry  of  the  Church,  or  Candidates  for  the  same,  have  difficulty 
in  reconciling  with  their  ideas  of  scripture  truth  what  appears  even 
to  them  to  be  the  obvious  meaning  of  our  Baptismal  and  other*  For- 
mularies, as  to  the  privileges  of  Baptism ;  partly  (and  that  more 
especially)  to  afford  persons  a  test  of  their  own  views  of  their  Sav- 
iour's ordinance,  by  comparing  them  with  the  language  and  feelings 
of  Scripture.  And  this,  because  a  due  sense  of  the  blessings  which 
He  has  bestowed  upon  us  must  tend  to  increase  our  love  for  Him  ; 
as  also,  because  I  know  not  what  ground  of  hope  the  Church  has  to 
look  for  a  full  blessing  upon  its  ministry  from  its  Head,  so  long  as  a 
main  channel  of  His  grace  be,  in  comparison,  lightly  esteemed. 

*  Persons  often  forget  that  Baptismal  Regeneration  is  taught  in  the  Cate- 
chism as  well,  as  undoubtingly,  and  as  warmly,  as  in  the  services  of  Baptism 
and  Confirmation  ;  for  when  the  child  is  taught  to  say  tliat  it  was  "  in  its  Bap- 
tism made  a  member  of  Christ  and  a  child  of  Cod,"  that  "  being  by  nature  born 
in  sin,  and  the  children  of  wrath,  we  are  hereby  (by  the  spiritual  grace  of  Bap- 
tism) made  the  children  of  grace ;"  what  is  this  but  to  say  that  there  were  born 
of  God,  i.e.  regenerated  and  every  child  is  taught  to  "thank  its  Heavenly 
Father  for  having  called  it  into  this  state  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Clirist  our 
Saviour,"  and  humbly  to  pray — not  that  it  be  brought  into  any  other  state,  but 
«— ■'  that  it  might  continue  in  the  same  to  its  life's  end." 


CHAPTER  II.  '^ 

ON  THE  MEANING  OF  BAPTISMAL  IlEGENERATION,  AND  THE  PAS- 
SAGES OF  HOLY  SCRIPTURE  WHICH  SPEAK  OF  OR  IMPLY  THE 
GREATNESS    OF    BAPTISM. 

The  passages  of  Holy  Scripture,  which  refer  to  Baptism,  may 
naturally  be  divided  under  two  heads  ;  those  which  directly  connect 
regeneration  with  it  (John  iii.  5.  Tit.  iii.  5.,)  and  those  which  speak 
of  its  privileges,  in  high  indeed  and  glorious  terms,  but  without  the 
same  precision  and  definiteness.  Each  class,  in  a  different  way, 
strengthens  our  faith  ;  the  one  telling  us  what  our  privilege  is,  the 
other  raising  or  illustrating  our  notions  of  that  privilege,  by  speaking 
of  its  accompaniments  or  results. 

Before  entering  upon  the  consideration  of  these  passages,   how- 
ever, some  may  wish  to  know  the  meaning  here  attached  to  the  Scrip- 
ture words  "  regeneration,"  or  "  new  birth,"  and  "  birth  from  above." 
This  were  easy  for  practical  purposes,  by  way  of  description,  so  as 
to  set  before  ourselves  the  greatness  of  the  gift  by  Baptism  bestowed 
on  us  ;  but  it  is  not  so  easy  by  way  of  a  technical  definition.     This 
arises  from  the  very  nature  of  the  subject ;  for  we  can  only  accurately 
define  that  which  we  understand,  not  in  its  effects  only  but  its  cause. 
Things  divine,  even  by  describing,   we  are  apt  to  circumscribe  ; 
much  more,  if  we  attempt  strictly  to  define  them  :  the  depth  of  things 
divine  cannot  be  contained  within  the  shallowness  of  human  words. 
The  more  carefully  we  express  ourselves  in  the  one  way,  the  more 
escapes  us  in  another.     Thus,  in  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
a  mind  which  should  mainly  fix  itself  on  our  being  "  accounted  right- 
eous," would  by  degrees  lose   sight  of  that  other  portion  of  it,  the 
"having  righteousness,  actually  imparted,  the  being  made  righteous ;" 
as  on  the  other  hand  one*  who  recently  attempted  to  recover  this  last 
portion  of  the  truth,  became  so  intent  thereon,  as  to  do  away  the  vi- 
yidness  of  that  former  truth,  that  we  are  "judicially  pronounced 
righteous  or  absolved  for  Christ's  sake  :"  what  Christ  worketh  in  us 
cast  a  shade  over  what  He  did  and  suffered  fw  us.     So  again,  in 
many  good  persons,  the  desire  to  uphold  (as  they  think)  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith,  practically  obliterates  the  truth,  that  our  jus- 
tification is  imputed  to  us,   not  through  the  feelings,  but   throvgh 
Baptism  ;  as  on  the  other  hand,  there  m^y  be  also  a  cold  and  exclu- 
•sive  recognition  of  the  gift  of  God  in  Baptism,  without  any  vivid  per- 
ception that  by  abiding  faith  only  can  that  gift  be  retained.     In  all 

*  Knox's  Remains- 


22 

these  cases,  a  portion  of  the  truth  has  been  taken  for  the  whole,  and 
has  narrowed  the  whole.  Neither  again  sufficelh  it  often,  that  the 
whole  truth  should  be  really  involved  in  the  definition  given.  Thus 
in  the  words  "justification  by  faith,"  all  the  Christian  privileges  and 
gifts  are  indeed  included,  since  they  are  all  a  part  of  the  faith,  be- 
stowed on  one  who  embraces  the  mercies  of  God  in  Christ,  and  is 
through  the  Sacraments  made  a  member  of  Him.  It  is  justification 
by  God's  free  grace  in  the  Gospel,  as  opposed  to  every  thing  out  of 
the  Gospel ;  yet  when  a  person  comes  to  look  upon  this  as  a  defi- 
nition, not  as  exhibiting  the  truth  vividly  upon  one  side  only,  he  an- 
nexes restraining  senses  to  the  words,  and  goes  on  to  substitute  or  op- 
pose one  portion  of  the  truth — that  most  familiar  to  his  own  mind — to 
other  portions,  likewise  contained  in  it.  Thus  "justification  by 
faith"  came  to  be  opposed*  in  men's  minds  to  Baptism,  the  means 
ordained  by  Christ  Himself  for  the  remission  of  sin  or  for  justification. 
The  like  has  happened  with  regard  to  Baptism.  Hence  also  it 
may  be  in  part  that  the  early  Church  has  not  fixed  the  language  on 
this  subject  beyond  the  statement  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  (that  there  is 
"  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,")  and  her  teachers  have,  a? 
occasion  suggested,  dwelt  at  different  times  upon  the  one  or  other 
portion  of  its  blessings,  but  left  no  fixed  form  of  speaking  thereon. 
They  have  described  not  defined  the  gifts  of  God  in  Baptism.  Thus 
Baptism  may  obviously  be  looked  upon  either  with  reference  to  the 
past  or  the  future ;  as  a  passage /row  death,  or  to  life ;  as  a  deliverance 
from  sin,  or  a  renewal  to  holiness  ;  a  death  unto  sin,  or  a  new  birth 
unto  righteousness  ;  and  men's  minds  might  from  circumstances  be 
directed  prominently  to  the  one  or  other  view.  Again,  they  might 
look  upon  Baptism  as  it  was  a  channel  of  these  blessings,  in  that  the 
person  baptized  becomes  thereby  "a member  of  Christ,"  (which  one 
saying  comprehends  more  than  all  which  men's  or  angels'  thoughts 
can  conceive  of  blessedness  ;)  or  they  might  look  at  the  blessings  of 
which  it  is  the  channel.  Thus  the  Greek  Fathers  (who  were  harass- 
ed by  no  controversies  connected  with  it)  spoke  principally  of  the 
blessedness  whereof  it  makes  us  partakers.  So  St,  Chrysostom  :t 
"  Blessed  be  God,  who  alone  doeth  wonders  ;  who  made  all  things, 
and  changeth  all.  Behold,  they  enjoy  the  calm  of  freedom  who  a  lit- 
tle before  were  held  capthves,  they  are  denizens  of  the  Church  who 
were  wandering  in  error,  and  they  have  the  lot  of  righteousness  who 
were  in  the  confusion  of  sin.  For  they  are  not  only  free  but  holy; 
not  holy  only,  but  righteous ;  not  righteous  only,  but  sons  ;  not  sons 

*  Papers  from  the  "  Record,"  p.  31,  33,  &c. 

f  Oral,  ad  Neophytos,  ap.  Augustin.  c.  Julian.  I.  i.  {  21.  It  is  plain  (as  St. 
Augustine  remarks)  that  since  St.  Chrysostom  speaks  of  children  being  free 
from  sins,  he  means  actual  sins,  since  original  sin  must  always  be  spoken  of  in 
the  singular  ;  so  the  Pelagian^r,  to  make  the  passage  serve  their  end,  substituted 
the  singular  for  the  plural  which  St.  Chrysostom  used. 


83 

only,  but  heirs  ;  not  heirs  only,  but  brethren  of  Christ ;  not  brethren 
of  Christ  only,  but  co-heirs ;  not  only  co-heirs,  but  members  ;  not 
members  only,  but  a  temple  ;  not  a  temple  only,  but  instruments  of 
the  Spirit.  See  how  many  are  the  largesses  of  Baptism  ;  and  where- 
as some  think  that  the  heavenly  grace  consists  only  in  the  remis 
sion  of  sins,  lo,  we  have  recounted  ten  glories  thereof.  Wherefore 
we  baptize  infants,  although  they  have  no  sins,  that  holiness,  right- 
eousness, adoption,  inheritance,  brotherhood  with  Christ,  may  be 
added  to  them  ;  that  they  may  become  His  members."  It  appears 
from  this  that  some  already  had  begun  to  restrict  themselves  too  ri- 
gidly to  the  words  of  the  description  given  in  the  Creed  of  Constan- 
tinople, St.  Augustine,  on  the  other  hand,  living  in  the  midst  of  the 
Pelagian  heresy,  was  compelled  to  take  prominently  this  very  line, 
which  St.  Chrysostom  regards  as  cold,  when  taken  exclusively ; 
since  the  Pelagians  denied  all  sin  in  infants,  he  was  obliged  very 
principally  to  insist  upon  Baptism  as  the  remission  of  original  sin. 
In  like  manner,  our  Church  at  first,  in  her  Catechism,  used  the  warm 
undefined  language  of  the  Eastern  Churches,  "  wherein  I  was  made 
a  member  of  Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven ;"  and  after waixls  defined  the  benefits  of  Baptism 
more  after  the  maimer  of  St,  Augustine,  "  a  death  unto  sin,  and  a 
new  birth  unto  righteousness  ;  for  being  by  nature  born  in  sin,  and 
the  children  of  wrath,  we  are  hereby  made  the  children  of  grace." 
The  two  views,  as  above  said,  do  in  fact  coincide,  and  are  only  the 
same  great  truth  looked  upon  on  different  sides  ;  for  neither  did  St. 
Augustine  regard  the  remission  of  original  or  actual  sin  as  taking  place 
in  any  other  way  than  through  the  union  with  Christ,  nor  doubted  he 
that  this  union  infused  actual  righteousness  and  holiness,  the  seed  of 
immortality,  and  gifts  in  Christ  far  more  than  had  been  lost  in  Adam. 
On  the  other  hand  the  Greek  Churches,  though  chiefly  dwelling 
upon  the  blessings  acquired,  yet  acknowledged  Baptism  to  be  for  the 
remission  of  original,  as  well  as  actual  sin. 

The  difficulty  of  explaining  Baptismal  Regeneration  is  two-fold  ; 
First,  from  its  being  a  mystery;  Secondly,  from  men  being  in  these 
•days  inclined  to  lower  that  mystery.  Thus  one  should  prefer  speak- 
ing of  it  with  our  Catechism,  as  that  whereby  we  were  made  ^'mem- 
bers of  Christ;"  but  then,  when  people  explain  "members  of  Christ" 
to  be  **  members  of  Christ's  Church,"  and  that,  to  mean  "members 
of  His  visible  Church,  or  of  the  society  of  men  called  Christians," 
a  description  in  itself  the  highest  and  most  glorious,  and  the  source 
of  every  other  blessing,  is  made  equivalent  to  "  a  mere  outward  ad- 
mission into  a  mere  outward  assemblage  of  men."  In  either  case, 
however,  man  is  the  author  of  his  own  difficulties  ;  in  the  one,  by 
lowering  the  fulness  of  Scripture  truth ;  in  the  other,  by  carnally 
inquiring  into  the  mode  of  the  Divine  working.  For  a  mystery  pre- 
sents no  difficulty  to  belief ;  it  becomes  difficult  only  when  we  ask 


24 

about  the  mode  of  its  being.  Nicodemus  asked,  "  How  can  these 
things  be  ?"  and  most  of  our  questions  about  Baptismal  Regeneration 
are  Nicodemus-questions.  We  know  it  in  its  author,  God ;  in  its 
instrument,  Baptism  ;  in  its  end,  salvation,  union  with  Christ,  son- 
ship  to  God,  "resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  the  life  of  the  world  to 
come."  We  only  know  it  not,  where  it  does  not  concern  us  to 
know  it,  in  the  mode  of  its  operation.  But  this  is  just  what  man 
would  know,  and  so  he  passes  over  all  those  glorious  privileges,  and 
stops  at  the  threshold  to  ask  how  it  can  be  ?  He  would  fain  know 
how  an  unconscious  infant  can  he  born  of  God  ?  hoio  it  can  spirit- 
ually live  ?  wherein  this  spiritual  life  consists  ?  how  Baptism  can  be 
the  same  to  the  infant  and  to  the  adult  convert  ?  and  if  it  be  not  in  its 
visible,  and  immediate,  and  tangible  effects,  hoiv  it  can  be  the  same 
at  all  ?  Yet  Scripture  makes  no  difference  ;  the  gift  is  tlie  same,  al- 
though it  vary  in  its  application  ;  to  the  infant  it  is  the  remission  of 
original  guilty  to  the  adult  of  his  actual  sins  also ;  but  to  both  by 
their  being  made  members  of  Christ,  and  thereby  partakers  of  His 
"wisdom  and  righteousness,  sanctification  and  redemption;"  by  be- 
ing made  branches  of  the  True  Vine,  and  so,  as  long  as  they  abide 
in  Him,  receiving  from  Him,  each  according  to  their  capacities-, 
and  necessities,  and  willingness,  nourishment  and  life  ;  but  if  they 
abide  not  in  Him,  they  are  cast  forth  like  a  branch,  and  withered. 
We  can  then,  after  all,  find  no  belter  exposition  than  that  incidentally 
given  in  our  Catechism, — "my  Baplism,^  wherein  I  was  made  a 
member  of  Christ,  the  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ;"  and  with  this  statement  we  may  well  be  content,  as  it 
expresses  most  our  union  with  our  Redeemer,  the  fountain  of  our 
gifts,  and  the  ground  of  our  hopes.  One  may  then  define  Regen- 
eration to  be,  "  that  act  whereby  God  takes  us  out  of  our  relation  to 
Adam,  and  makes  us  actual  members  of  His  Son,  and  so'  His  son&, 
as  being  members  of  His  Ever-blessed  Son,  and  if  sons,  ihen  heirs 
of  God  through  Christ," — (Gal.  iv,  7.)  This  is  our  new  birth,  an 
actual  birth  of  God,  of  water,  and  the  Spirit,  as  we  were  actually 
born  of  our  natural  parents  ;  herein  then  also  are  we  justified,  or  both 
accounted  and  made  righteous,  since  we  are  made  members  of  Him 
who  is  alone  righteous  ;  freed  from  past  sin,  whether  origin  at  or 
actual;  have  a  new  principle  of  life  imparted  to  us,  since  having  been 
made  members  of  Christ,  we  have  a  portion  of  His  life,  or  of  Hira 
who  is  our  Life  ;  herein  we  have  also  the  hope  of  the  resurrection 
and  of  immortality,  because  we  have  been  made  partakers  of  His  re- 
surrection, have  risen  again  with  Him.     (Col.  ii.  12.) 

The  view,  then,  here  held  of  Baptism,  following  the  ancient 
Church  and  our  own,  is  that  we  be  engrafted  into  Christ,  and  there- 
by receive  a  principle  of  life,  afterwards  to  be  developed  and  en^ 
larged  by  the  fuller  influxes  of  His  grace  ;  so  that  neither  is  Bap- 
tism looked  upon  as  an  infusion  of  grace  distinct  from  the  incorpora- 


25 

tion  into  Christ,  nor  is  that  incorporation  conceived  of  as  separate 
from  its  attendant  blessings. 

The  following  sentences  of  Hooker  express,  in  that  great  master's 
way,  the  view  here  meant  to  be  taken  : —  "  This*  is  the  necessity  of 
Sacraments,  That  saving  grace  which  Christ  originally  is,  or  hath 
for  the  general  good  of  His  whole  Church,  by  Sacraments  He  sever- 
ally deriveth  into  every  member  thereof.  Byt  Baptism  therefore  we 
receive  Christ  Jesus,  and  from  Him  the  saving  grace  which  is  proper 
unto  Baptism. — Baptism^  is  a  Sacrament  which  God  hath  instituted 
in  His  Church,  to  the  end  that  they  which  receive  the  same  might 
be  incorporated  into  Christ,  and  so  through  His  most  precious 
merit  obtain  as  well  that  saving  grace  of  imputation  which  taketh 
away  all  former  guiltiness,  as  also  that  infused  divine  virtue  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  giveth  to  the  powers  of  the  soul  the  first  dispo- 
sition towards  future  newness  of  life." 

Two  more  observations  must  be  premised  on  the  Scripture  evi- 
dence itself:  First,  Whereas,  confessedly.  Regeneration  is  in  Scrip- 
ture connected  w^ith  Baptism,  there  is  nothing  in  Scripture  to  sever 
it  therefrom.  The  evidence  all  goes  one  way.  This,  in  itself,  is  of 
great  moment.  For  if  God,  in  two  places  only,  assigns  the  means 
of  His  operations,  and  then  in  other  places  were  to  mention  those  ope- 
rations apart  from  the  means,  we  are  not  (as  the  manner  of  some  is) 
to  take  these  texts  separately,  as  if  they  did  not  come  from  the  same 
Giver,  but  to  fill  up  what  is  not  expressed  in  the  one  by  what  He 
teaches  plainly  in  the  other.  Thus,  when  we  have  learnt  that  the 
"  new  birth,"  or  "  birth  from  above,"  is  "  of  water  and  the  Spirit," 
(John  iii.  5.)  then,  where  it  is  said,  "  who  were  born  not  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God,"  (John 
i.  13,)  we  should,  with  the  ancient  Church,  recognise  here  also  the 
gift  of  God  in  Baptism  to  "  such  as  receive  Him." 

But,  Secondly,  not  only  is  there  nothing  in  Scripture  to  sever  Re- 
generation from  Baptism,  but  Baptism  is  spoken  of  as  the  source  of 
our  spiritual  birth,  as  no  other  cause  is,  save  God :  we  are  not  said, 
namely,  to  be  born  again  of  faith,  or  love,  or  prayer,  or  any  grace 
which  God  worketh  in  us,  but  to  be  born  q/"*  water  "  and  the 
Spirit,  in  contrast  to  our  birth  of^  the  flesh  ;  in  like  manner  as  we 
are  said  to  be  born  of  3  God  :  and  in  order  to  express  that  this  our 
new^  birth  of  God  is,  as  being  of  God,  a  deathless  birth,  it  is  de- 
scribed as  a  birth  o/"^  seed  incorruptible,  in  contrast  with  our  birth  af- 

*  Eccl.  Pol.  b.  v.  c.  Ivii.  }  5.  ed.  Keble.        f  lb.  {  6.         t  lb.  c  Ix.  {  2. 

1  ycvvridtj   'ES  vSaroi  Koi  nvcifiaros.      John  iii.  5. 

2  TO  ycycvvTifiivov  'EK   rrjf  aapKds.      ib.  V.  6. 

3  ot  OVK  'EE  alitoLToyv — dXX'  'EK  0£oi>  cycvvridr](Tav .  1.   13. 

4  avaytyivvii)iivoi  ovk  'EK*  trropdi  (pBaprrj;,  d\Xa  <t>9dapT0v, 

*  It  has  been  a  careless  habit  of  interpretation  which  has  here  confounded 
Words  so  distinct  aa  «  and  dta,  andth  en  proceeded  to  identify  >}  <"ropa  here  with 


26 

ler  the  flesh,  of  corruptible  seed  through  our  earthly  parents.  The 
immediate  causes  of  our  birth  are  not  here  spoken  of ;  only  we  are 
taught  that  it  is  of  God,  and  in  itself  immortal,  if  men  will  but  not 
part  with  it,  or  occasion  God  to  withdraw  it.  Holy  Scripture,  in- 
deed, connects  other  causes  besides  Baptism  with  the  new  birili,  or 
rather  that  one  comprehensive  cause,  the  whole  dispensation  of  mercy 
in  the  Gospel,  (for  this,  not  the  written  or  spoken  word,  is  meant  by 
the  "word,"  the  "  word  of  truth  ;")  but  it  at  once  marks,  by  the  very 
difference  of  language,  that  these  are  only  more  remote  instruments  : 
we  are  not  said  to  be  born  of  them  as  of  parents,  but  by  or  through 
them.  They  have  their  appointed  place,  and  order,  and  instrumen- 
tality, towards  our  new  birth,  but  we  are  not  said  to  be  born  o/them. 
Thus  we  are  said  to  be  "born"  (as  was  noticed)  "  o/"  seed  incorrup- 
tible," I.  e.  of  an  immortal  birth,  but  only  ^' through^  the  word  of 
God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever ;"  "  in  Jesus  Christ  have 
I  begotten  you /7<ro!<o-A  2  the  Gospel ;"  "of  His  own  will  begat  He 
us  by^  the  word  of  truth  ;"  no  other  instrument  being  spoken  of 
as  having  the  same  relation  to  our  heavenly  birth  as  this  of  Water.* 
Had  it  even  been  otherwise,  tiie  mention  of  any  other  instrument  in 
our  Regeneration  could  not  of  course  have  excluded  the  operation  of 
Baptism  :  as  indeed  in  Baptism  itself,  two  very  different  causes  are 
combined,  the  one,  God  Himself,  the  other  a  creature  which  He  has 
thought  fit  to  hallow  to  this  end.  For  then,  as  Giirist's  merits,  and 
the  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  faith,  and  obedience,  operate, 
though  in  different  ways,  to  the  final  salvation  of  our  souls,  and  yet 
the  one  excludes  not  the  necessity  of  the  rest ;  so  also  the  mention 
of  faith,  or  of  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  as  means  towards  our 
Regeneration,  would  not  have  excluded  the  necessity  of  Baptism 
thereto,  although  mentioned  in  but  one  passage  of  Holy  Scripture. 
But  now,  as  if  to  exclude  all  idea  of  human  agency  in  this  our  spiri- 
tual creation,  to  shut  out  all  human  co-operation  or  boasting,  as  though 
we  had  in  any  way  contributed  to  our  own  birth,  and  were  not  wholly 

1  AIA  \6yov  ^MiTOi  0£oC  Kai  [icvovto(  us   tov  alcZvu.      1  Pet.  i.  23. 

2  h  Xj3i(rr(5  'lijcr'jv  AIA  rov  evayye^iov  tyCo  vfias  eyivvrica.   1  Cor.  iv,  16. 

3  Pov'XrideU  d-n-CKinatv  fifias  \6yu  d\7}0e(a{.   James  i.  18. 

4  •'  Unless  as  the  Spirit  is  a  necessary  inward  cause,  so  water  were  a  neces- 
sary outward  mean  to  our  regeneration,  what  construction  should  we  give 
unto  those  words  wherein  we  are  said  to  be  new  born,  and  that  t^  vSaros,  even 
of  water  V^ — Hooker,  b.  v.  c.  59. 

the  (rrcpiia  in  our  Lord's  parable  ;  and  so,  by  this  double  mistake,  inferred 
that  St.  Peter  declared  that  "  the  incorruptible  seed,  of  which  we  are  re-born," 
is  the  "preaching  of  the  word."  The  two  metaphors  are  quite  distinct.  St. 
Jerome  rightly  translates  (adv.  Jovin.  1.  i.  }  39.)  '■  renati  non  ex  coitu  corrup- 
tibili  sed  ex  incorruptione,  per  verbum  viventis  Dei  et  permanentis,"  and  so 
Cajetan.  ad  loc.  clearly  explains  it,  "  quae  natura  generat,  generat  per  semen, 
et  illud  corruptibile  ;  vos  quidem  renati  estis  per  semen,  sed  incorruptibile." 


27 

the  creatures  of  His  hands,  no  loop-hole  has  been  left  us,  no  other 
instrument  named  ;  our  birth  (when  its  direct  means  are  spoken  of,) 
is  attributed  to  the  Baptism  of  Water  and  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  that 
only.  Had  our  new  birth,  in  one  passage  only,  been  connected  with 
Baptism,  and  iiad  it  in  five  hundred  passages  been  spoken  of  in  con- 
nection with  other  causes,  still,  because  it  was  in  that  one  place  so 
connected  with  Baptism,  no  one  who  looked  faithfully  for  intimations 
of  God's  will,  would  have  ventured  to  neglect  that  one  passage  ;  the 
truth  contained  in  Holy  Scripture  is  not  less  God's  truth  because  con- 
tained in  one  passage  only  ;  but  now,  besides  this,  God  has  so  order- 
ed His  word  that  it  does  speak  of  the  connection  of  Baptism  with 
our  new  birth,  and  does  not  speak  of  any  other  cause,  in  the  like  close 
union  with  it. 

These  circumstances  alone,  thoughtfully  weighed,  would  lead  a 
teachable  disposition  readily  to  incline  his  faith  whither  God  seems 
to  point.  For  although  the  privileges  annexed  to  Regeneration  are 
elsewhere  spoken  of,  and  the  character  of  mind  thereto  conformable, 
— our  sonship  and  the  mind  which  we  should  have  as  sons,  our  new 
creation, — yet  these  are  spoken  of,  as  already  belonging  to,  or  to  be 
cultivated  in,  us,  not  as  to  be  begun  anew  in  any  once  received  into 
the  body  of  Christ.  There  are  tests  afforded  whether  we  are  acting  ( 
up  to  our  privilege  of  Regeneration,  and  cherishing  the  Spirit  there-  | 
in  given  us,  but  there  is  no  hint  that  Regeneration  can  be  obtained  in  ^ 
any  way  but  by  Baptism,  or  if  totally  lost,  could  be  restored.  We 
are  warned  that  having  been  "  saved  by  Baptism  through  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  Christ,  we  should  no  longer  live  the  rest  of  our 
time  in  the  flesh  to  the  lusts  of  men  but  to  the  will  of  God,"  (1  Pet. 
iii.  21.  iv.  2.)  that,  "having  been  born  of  incorruptible  seed,  we 
should  put  off  all  malice,  and  like  new-born  infants  desire  the  sin- 
cere milk  of  the  word,"  (1  Pet.  i.  23.  ii.  1 — 3.)  that  "having been 
saved  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  we  should  be  careful  to  maintain  good  works,"  (Tit.  iii.  1 — 8.) 
and  again,  those  who  had  fallen  in  any  way  are  exhorted  to  repent- 
ance ;  but  men  are  not  taught  to  seek  for  regeneration,  to  pray  that 
they  may  be  regenerate  ;  it  is  nowhere  implied  that  any  Christian 
had  not  been  regenerated,  or  could  hereafter  be  so.  The  very  error 
of  the  Novatians,  that  none  who  fell  away  after  Baptism  could 
be  renewed  to  repentance,  will  approach  nearer  to  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel,  than  the  supposition  that  persons  could  be  admitted  as  dead 
members  into  Christ,  and  then  afterwards,  for  the  first  time,  quick- 
ened. Our  life  in  Christ  is,  throughout,  represented  as  commencing 
when  we  are  by  Baptism  made  members  of  Christ  and  children  of 
God.  That  life  may  through  our  negligence  afterwards  decay,  or  be 
choked,  or  smothered,  or  well  nigh  extinguished,  and  by  God's  mer- 
cy again  be  renewed  and  refreshed  ;  but  a  commencement  of  life  in 
Christ  after  Baptism,  a  death  unto  sin  and  a  new  birth  unto  righte- 


28 

ousness,  at  any  other  period  than  at  that  one  first  introduction  into 
God's  covenant,  as  is  little  consonant  with  the  general  representations 
of  Holy  Scripture,  as  a  commencement  of  physical  life  long  after 
our  natural  birth  is  with  the  order  of  His  Providence.  Those  mira- 
cles of  God's  mercy,  whereby  He  from  time  to  lime  aivakens  souls 
from  their  lethargy,  to  see  the  reality  of  things  unseen,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  their  own  wanderings  from  the  right  way,  no  more  indicate 
that  they  had  had  no  life  imparted  to  them  before,  than  a  man  awak- 
ing from  an  unnatural  slumber  would  that  he  had  been  physically 
dead.  These  analogies  go  but  a  little  way ;  but  the  very  terms  "quick- 
ened," "  awakened,"  "  roused,"  and  the  like,  wherewith  men  natu- 
rally designate  the  powerful  interposition  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  upon 
the  hearts  of  men  hitherto  careless,  convey  the  notion  that  the  life 
was  there  before,  although  sunk  in  torpor,  the  gift  tliere,  although  not 
stirred  up,  the  powers  implanted,  although  suffered  to  lie  idle. 

The  evidence,  however,  arising  from  a  general  consideration  of 
God's  declarations  in  Holy  Scripture,  obtains  fresh  strength  from  the 
examination  of  the  passages  themselves  :  only  we  must  not  look  up- 
on them  as  a  dead  letter,*  susceptible  of  various  meanings,  and 
which  may  be  made  to  bear  the  one  or  the  other  indifferently,  but 
as  the  living  Word  of  God  ;  particularly  we  should  regard,  with 
especial  reverence  any  words  which  fell  from  our  Saviour's  lips,  and 
see  that  we  consider,  not  what  they  may  mean,  but  what  is  their  ob- 
vious untorturcd  meaning.  We  should  not  argue,  therefore,  as  some 
have  done,  that  it  is  "improbable  that  Christ,  discoursing  with  a 
carnal  Jew,  should  lay  so  much  weight  upon  the  outward  sign  ;"  (for 
this  teaching  was  not  for  Nicodemus  only,  but  for  His  Church  ;  and 
of  all  oiir  Saviour's  teaching  we  can  know  this  only,  that  it  would 
be  far  different  and  far  deeper  than  what  we  should  have  expected, 
and  that  it  would  baffle  all  our  rules  and  measures  ;)  nor,  again, 
would  he  say  with  Zuingli,t  Calvin,  Grotius,  and  the  Socinians,t 
that  the  "  water"  may  be  a  mere  metaphor,  a  mei'e  emblem  of  the 
Spirit;  and  so,  that  being  "born  again  of  water  and  the  Spirit," 
means  nothing  more  than  "  being  born  of  the  Spirit"  without  water.^ 

*  "  Now,  then,"  says  even  Zuingli,  vindicating  Matt,  xxviii.  19.  from  the 
common  Anabaptist  cavil,  "  see  whether  we  also  cannot  weigh  the  sense  and 
order  of  wordsi  if  indeed  this  strife  about  words  {>~oyoixn)('in)  ought  to  have  any 
avail,  uhen  they  are  the  words  of  Christ.  For  although  I  am  by  no  means  ad- 
dicted to  the  bare  letter  of  words,  yet  sometimes  it  needeth  to  weigh  them  ac- 
cording to  the  letter,  yet  in  a  due  and  right  way,  lest  perchance  the  letter 
should  kill."— De  Baptismo,  0pp.  t.  2.  f.  65. 

t  De  Baptismo.  0pp.  t.  ii.  f.  70.  v. 

X  See  Faust.  Socinus  de  Baptismo,  c.  4.  0pp.  Fratr.  Polon.  t.  i.  p.  718. 
Slichtingius,  ad  loc.  ib.  t.  vi.  p.  26.  agrees  to  the  letter  almost  with  Calvin.  See 
Note  P.  at  the  end. 

^  "  I  do  not  think  they  are  to  be  heard,  who  hold  that  under '  water',  in  this 
place,  not  water,  but  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  be  understood  ;  as  if  the  Lord  meant 


29 

For  Hooker*  well  says,  "  I  hold  it  for  a  most  infallible  rule  in  expo- 
sitions of  sacred  Scripture,  that  where  a  literal  construction  will 
stand,  the  farthest  from  the  letter  is  commonly  the  worst.  There  is 
nothing  more  dangerous  than  this  licentious  and  deluding  art,  which 
changeth  the  meaning  of  words,  as  alchemy  doth,  or  would  do,  the 
substance  of  metals,  makethof  any  thing  what  it  listeth,  and  bringeth 
in  the  end  all  truth  to  nothing.  Or  however  such  voluntary  exercise 
of  wit  might  be  borne  with  otherwise ;  yet  in  places  which  usually 
serve,  as  this  doth,  concerning  regeneration  by  water  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  be  alleged  for  grounds  and  principles,  less  is  permitted. 
To  hide  the  general  consent  of  antiquity,  agreeing  in  the  literal  in- 
terpretation, they  cunningly  affirm,  that  certain  have  taken  those 
words  as  meant  of  material  water,  when  they  know  that  of  all 

THE  ANCIENTS  THERE  IS  NOT  ONE  TO  BE  NAMED  THAT  EVER  DID 
OTHERWISE  EITHER  EXPOUND  OR  ALLEGE  THE  PLACE,  THAN  AS 
IMPLYING    EXTERNAL    BaPTISM." 

Rather,  as  the  prophecy  which  these  same  persons  alleged,  that 
Christ  namely  shall  "baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire," 
received  its  hteral  fulfilment  at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  in  this  the  later 
Baptism  of  the  Apostles,  we  find,  "  as  well  a  visible!  descent  of  fire, 
as  a  secret  miraculous  infusion  of  the  Spirit :  if  on  us  He  accom- 
plish likewise,  the  heavenly  work  of  our  new  birth,  not  with  the 
Spirit  alone,  but  with  water  thereunto  adjoined,  saith  the  faithfullest 
expounders  of  His  words  are  His  own  deeds,  let  that,  which  His  hand 
hath  manifestly  wrought,  declare  what  his  speech  did  doubtfully  utter." 

to  make  mention  of  the  Holy  Spirit  twice,  and  to  say,  '  WTiosoever  is  not  born 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  Holy  Spirit,'  or  'whosoever  is  not  born  of  water 
■which  is  the  Holy  Spirit.'  " — Bucer  de  vi  et  efficacia  Baptismi.  Script.  Angli- 
can, p.  596. 

*  "  When  the  letter  of  the  Law  hath  two  things  plainly  and  expressly  spe- 
cified, water  and  the  Spirit ;  water  as  a  duty  required  on  our  parts,  the  Spirit 
as  a  gift  which  God  bestoweth ;  there  is  danger  in  presuming  so  to  interpret 
it,  as  if  the  clause  which  concerneth  ourselves  were  more  than  needeth.  We 
may  by  such  rare  expositions  attain  perhaps  in  the  end  to  be  thought  witty, 
but  with  ill  advice." — Hooker,  L.  v.  c.  59. 

"  That  we  may  be  thus  born  of  the  Spirit  we  must  be  bom  also  of  water, 
which  our  Saviour  here  puts  in  the  first  place.  Not  as  if  there  were  any  such 
virtue  in  water,  whereby  it  could  regenerate  us  ;  but  because  this  is  the  rite 
or  ordinance  appointed  by  Christ,  wherein  He  regenerates  us  by  His  Holy 
Spirit;  our  regeneration  is  wholly  the  act  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ. — Seeing 
this  [Baptism!  is  instituted  by  Christ  Himself,  as  we  cannot  be  born  of 
water  without  the  Spirit,  so  neither  can  we  in  an  ordinary  way  be  born  of  the 
Spirit  without  water,  used  or  applied  in  obedience  and  conformity  to  His  in- 
stitution. Christ  hath  joined  them  together,  and  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  part 
them  ;  he  that  would  be  born  of  the  Spirit,  must  be  born  of  water  also." — Bev~ 
■erage's  Sermons,  vol  1.  p.  304. 

I  Hooker,  1.  c.     See  note  A.  at  the  end. 


30 

To  name  individuals*  in  this  universal  consent  is  to  disguise  the 
extent  of  the  evidence  ;  it  is  to  point  to  a  few  single  luminaries  in 
the  nightly  sky,  vvlien  the  whole  heavens  are  lighted  and  thickly  set 
with  the  "  stars  which  He  has  ordained."  For  those  who,  in  their 
extant  writings,  were  not  led  to  explain  this  text  of  St.  John,  yet  in 
their  other  language  bear  ample  and  imphcit  witness  that  they  un- 
derstood it  in  the  same  sense  as  the  rest  of  the  Christian  Church.  Ev- 
ery vestige  of  exposition  of  IScripture,  every  statement  of  Christian 
doctrine  which  can  bear  this  way,  implies  the  same.  Thus,  when 
one  explains!  the  words,  "  He  shall  lead  me  to  the  waters  of  refresh- 
ment," of  "the  water  of  regeneration,  whereby  whoso  is  desirous  of 
the  Divine  Grace,  being  baptized,  layeth  aside  the  old  age  of  sin, 
and  whereas  he  was  decayed,  hath  his  youth  renewed  ;"  or  again, 
when  David  speaketh  of  the  "  blessedness  of  him  to  whom  the  Lord 
impuleth  no  sin,"  saith,|  foreseeing  with  prophetic  eyes  the  grace  of 
the  "  New  Testament,  and  that  remission  which  through  the  all-holy 
Baptism  is  beslovfed  upon  believers,  he  pronouncelh  them  blessed, 
inasmuch  as  they  received  free  remission  of  sin,"  no  one  could  doubt 
how  he  would  explain  the  words  of  St.  John.  No  one  could  doubt 
that  they  who  so  expounded,  had  their  minds  filled  with  the  benefits 
of  Baptism,  so  that  the  very  mention  of  forgiveness  brought  to  their 
thoughts  that  full  remission,  whereby  they  were  admitted  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  ;  the  very  name  of  "waters  of  refreshment"  re- 

•  yazquez,  in  3  Part.  S.  Thomae  Disp-  131.  n.  22,  refers  to  Justin  Apol.  2. 
Tertulhan  de  Baptisrao,  c.  11.  n.  89.  Cyprian,  L.  3.  ad  Quirin.  c.  25.  Am- 
brose,  L.  3-  de  Spirilu  Sancto,  c.  11.  Jerome  in  c.  16,  Ezek.  Basil  and  Greg- 
ory of  Nyssa  de  Baptismo.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Oral.  40,  in  S.  Bapt.  and 
he  adds  "all  the  commentators,  whom  he  omits  as  superfluous."  Such  are» 
to  name  the  older,  not  only  St.  Chrysostome,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Cyril,  of  AU 
exandria,  Nonnus,  but  Theodoras  of  Mopsueslia,  Apolinarius,  Amonius,  Seve- 
rus,  (ap.  Corderius  Caten.  in  Joann.  Evangel.)  To  these  may  be  added,  Re- 
cognit.  Clem.  vi.  9.  [Hom.  xi.  c.  26.  Epit  c.  17,  18.]  Origen'xn  Ep.  ad  Rom. 
L.  V.  c.  8.  p.  561,  ed.  de  la  Rue.  Nemesianus  in  Concil,  Carthag.  ap.  Cyjjrian 
p.  338.  [ed.  Bened.]  Auctor  Lib.  de  rebaptismale,  apud.  eund.  p.  355.  Eusebius, 
ad  Is.  3,  2,  [Montfaucon  Coll.  Nov.  t.  ii.  p.  368.]  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Cat. 
xi.  c.  9.  Constilt.  Apostol.  L.  vi.  c.  15.  Hilary  of  Aries,  [Combefis.  Bibl.  Patr. 
V.  22.]  Leo  the  Great,  Ep.  ad  Demetriad.  c.  11.  Quaest.  ad  Antioch  c.  v, 
H<;sychius  in  Ps.  103,  [Catena  Corderii.]  A  late  writer  in  the  "  Record"  [I 
am  toldj  ventured  the  assertion  that  St.  Chrysostome  was  the frsl  who  inter- 
preted the  text  of  Baptism  !  Of  the  witnesses  here  quoted  he  is  the  twentieth; 
snd  this  without  taking  into  account  the  manifest  allusions  to  the  text  in  S. 
HenaaSt  [L  iii-  c.  16.]  <S.  Irencsus,  [iii.  17.  2.]  S.  Dionysius  of  Alex.  [c.  Sa- 
mu&aten.  L.  iv.  p.  230.]  &.  Optatus,  [de  Schism.  Donatist.  v.  5.]  Let  any 
one  disposed  to  disparage  this  evidence,  think  how  he  would  appreciate  it,  if 
it  supported  any  point  in  the  system  which  he  has  made  his  own. 

t  Theodoret,  in  Ps.  xxii.  23,  with  whom  St.Athanasius  agrees,  although  not 
speaking  quite  so  strongly.  These  are  two,  in  whose  extant  works  we  happen 
to  liive  no  interpretation  of  the  text  of  St.  John. 

X  Theodoret  and  St.  Athanasius,  in  Ps.  xli.  42,  both  alike  positively. 


81 

called  that  health-giving  stream,  the  Baptism  of  water  and  the  Spirit, 
which  had  cleansed  them  of  all  sins,  and  given  them  a  fresh  life,  the 
life  from  above.     All  such  expositions  are  an  a  fortiori  evidence  that 
such  writers  must  have   understood,  in  like  manner,   the   words  of 
their  Lord.     Not  only  did  they  understand  the  words  "  water  and 
the  Spirit"  of  Baptism,  but  they  regarded  them  as  a  sort  of  key  to 
the  rest  of  Holy  Scripture,  which  any  way  bore  upon  the  same  sub- 
jects.    Thence  they  inferred,  that  wherever,  under  the  law,  free  re- 
mission of  sins  was  set  forth,  there  was  an  intimation  of  that  gift  of 
Christ  in  the  Gospel,  without  w  Inch  a  man  could  not  "  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  ;"  thence,  also,  that  when  water  was  spoken  of 
as  cheering,  cleansing,  refreshing,  there  was  a  secret  reference  to 
that  great  mystery,  wherein  our  Lord,  by  condescending  to  be  Bap- 
tized, should  "  sanctify  water  to  the  mystical  washing  away  of  sin," 
and  to  the  imparling  of  His  holiness.     And  so  of  those  words,  (St. 
John  i.  12,  13.)     "  As  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  he  pow- 
er to  become  the  sons  of  God,   to  them   that   believe  on  his  name, 
which  were  born,   not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God  ;"  whoso  should  explain  them  of  the 
gift  of  God  in  Baptism,    could  not  hesitate  so  to  understand   the 
words  of  our  Lord.     For  this  exposition  is  founded  on  the  very  no- 
tion, that  the  partaking  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Christian  relation 
of  sonship  to  God,  is  imparted  through  Baptism,  and  is  not  imparted 
without  it.     Yet  even  Pelagius*  understood  the  gift  here  spoken  of 
to  be  realized  through  Baptism  ;  and  among  the   Christian  fathers, 
allusions  to  this  text  are  frequent,  even  where  our  Lord's  words  are 
not  quoted  ;  because  this  declares  more  positively  the  Christian's 
rivilege  of  the  birth  of  God:  our  Lord's  words  are  spoken  negative- 
ly, that  no  one  shall  see  the  kingdom  of  heaven  without  that  birth. — 
Controversy  and  error  have  driven  us  into  narrower  bounds,  where 
our  forefathers  used  to  "  feed  freely  in  a  large  pasture." 

The  force  of  the  appeal  to  this  text  is  much  disguised  again  by 
mere  reference  to  those  who  allege  it.  For  beyond  tlie  simple  fact 
of  the  unity  of  the  whole  Church,  by  whom  one  and  one  only  sense 
is  found  in  it,  there  is  something  very  impressive  in  the  very  way  in 
which  it  is  quoted.  It  is  impressive  from  very  contrast,  amid  our 
strifes  of  words,  to  see  the  undoubtingness  with  which  the  whole 
Church  embraced  one  meaning,  alluded  to,  drew  inferences  from  it, 
as  having  the  nature  of  an  axiom  in  religious  trutli.  There  is,  how- 
ever, yet  another  test.  'I'he  very  first  author  who  names  it,  Justin 
Martyr,  in  a  public  document,  written  not  forty  years  after  the  death 
of  St.  John,  speaks  of  it  as  a  recognized  ground  of  Christian  Bap- 

•  His  comment  is,  "  Through  Faith  they  are  bom  of  Him,  through  the  re- 
Tiewal  of  Baptism  and  grace  of  tlie  Holy  Spirit." — App.  ad  Uieron.  t.  xi. 
p.  774. 


I 


32 

tism.  He  speaks  not  in  his  own  name,  but  in  that  of  the  whole 
Church.* 

"  Whoever  are  persuaded  and  beheve  that  what  we  teach  and  say 
is  true,  and  undertake  to  Uve  accordingly,  are  taught,  with  prayer  and 
fasting,  to  beg  of  God  the  remission  of  their  former  sins,  we  also 
praying  and  fasting  with  them.  Then  they  are  led  by  us  to  a  place 
where  is  water,  and  after  the  manner  of  new  birth,  that  we  also  were 
new  born,  are  they  new  born.  For  they  are  bathed  in  the  water  in 
the  name  of  God  the  Father  and  Lord  of  all,  and  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  Christ  said,  '  Except  ye 
be  born  again,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.'  But 
that  it  is  impossible  for  those  who  have  once  been  born  to  enter  into 
the  wombs  of  those  who  bare  them  is  manifest  to  all." 

And  not  less  Tertullian,t  arguing  the  very  point,  whether,  because 
faith  sufficed  to  Abraham  without  Baptism,  therefore  it  sufficed 
now. 

"  Be  it  that  in  past  times,  before  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of 
the  Lord,  salvation  was  through  bare  faith.  But  when  faith  was 
enlarged  by  the  belief  in  His  Nativity,  Passion,  and  Resurrection, 
there  was  added  the  sealing  of  Baptism,  a  clothing,  as  it  w^ere,  of 
faith,  which  heretofore  was  bare,  but  which  now  avails  not  without 
the  law  annexed  to  it.  For  a  law  of  Baptism,  has  been  prescribed, 
and  its  form  ordained.  '  Go,'  He  saith,  '  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them,'  &c.  And  that  strict  rule,  '  Except  a  man,'  &c.  blended  with 
this  law,  obliged  faith  to  Baptism  as  a  thing  essential  ;  so  thence- 
forth all  who  believed  were  baptized." 

In  both  these  writers  alike  it  is  spoken  of  as  a  known  fact,  that 
Christians  had  ever  been  baptized,  in  obedience  to  these  words  of 
our  Lord  ;  and  so  it  is  assumed,  as  having  been  undoubted  by  the 
whole  Church,  from  the  Apostles  downwards,  that  our  Lord  in  those 
words  spoke  of  His  Baptism,  that  Faith,  without  the  Baptism  of 
Faith,  did  not  regenerate.  In  St.  Basil's  clear  and  eloquent  words,t 
**  Faith  and  Baptism  are  two  modes  of  salvation,  akin  and  indivisi- 
ble, for  Faith  is  perfected  by  Baptism,  and  Baptism  is  founded  by 
Faith,  and  both  are  accomplished  through  the  same  Names.  For 
as  we  believe  in  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  so  are  we  also  bap- 
tized into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit." 

Thus,  then,  we  have  not  only  the  universal  consent  of  the  early 
Church,  but  we  have,  in  the  very  earliest  writers,  an  appeal  to  the 
then  practice,  as  resting  upon  the  plain  meaning  of  these  words  of 
Scripture,  and  implying  an  Apostolic  tradition. 

*  Apol.  1.  t  De  Baptisrao,  c.  13. 

%  De  Spiritu.  S.,  c.  12.  fin. 


33 

Again,  if  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  admissions  of  heretics, 
(since  people  will  trust  them  rather  than  the  Church,)  there  was  no 
text  by  which  the  Pelagians  were  more  pressed  than  this.  Nothing 
but  sin  could  exclude  any  from  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ;  but  infants 
were  baptized,  because  our  Lord  had  said,  "  Except  one  be  born 
of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven." This  showed  (the  Catholics  argued)  that  infants  had  sm,  and 
since  not  actual,  original  sin.  The  Pelagians  answered  not,  (as  mo- 
derns would,)  by  cutting  short  the  question,  denying  that  the  text 
had  anything  to  do  with  Baptism,  or  that  infants  could  need  baptism  ; 
but  they  answered  (also  in  a  modern  way,)  by  keeping  close  to  the 
letter  of  Scripture,  and  disregarding  its  spirit,  that  "  they  did  enter 
into  life  eternal,  although  "  not  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven."* — 
Here,  then,  we  have  a  heresy  requiring  the  attention  of  the  whole 
Church  ;  the  Church  appealing  to  the  Apostolical  custom  of  infant 
baptism,  and  our  Lord's  words,  as  the  ground  of  that  custom  ;  the 
adversaries  admitting  both,  but  escaping  the  result  of  their  admis- 
sion by  an  expedient  which  attests  into  how  great  straits  they  were 
reduced.  Now,  let  any  one  imagine  the  controversy  transferred 
from  that  day  to  this,  would  the  Pelagians  have  the  same  dilHiculty 
now  ?  and  can  this  difficulty  be  otherwise  explained  than  through 
the  fixed  and  rooted  persuasion  in  the  whole  Church,  that  our  Lord, 
when  speaking  of  the  "  birth  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  spoke  of  the 
privileges  of  Baptism  ? 

The  Catholicity  of  this  interpretation  of  our  Lord's  words,  "Except 
a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  is  still  further  ilhistrated  by  the 
use  of  them  in  the  Baptismal  Liturgies  of  the  whole  ancient  Church. 
There  is  not  a  Liturgy,  from  Britian  to  India,  which  does  not  in  some 
way  incorporate  it :  the  Eastern  Liturgies  rehearse  it  as  the  Gospel  ;t 

*  "  These  [the  Pelagiansl  are  alarmed  at  the  words  of  the  Lord,  '  Unless  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  shall  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God,'  which  he  explains, 
'  Unless  a  person  be  born  again  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  shall  not  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  Heaven.'  And  so  they  would  fain  give  unbaptized  infants  sal- 
vation and  eternal  life,  as  the  deserts  of  their  innocency,but  make  them  aliens 
from  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  as  not  having  been  baptized;  a  new  and 
strange  assumption,  as  if  there  could  be  salvation  and  life  eternal  out  of  the 
inheritance  of  Christ,  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  !  They  seek,  namely,  a 
lurking-place  therein,  that  our  Lord  does  not  say,  '  Unless  a  man  be  reborn 
of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  shall  not  have  life,  but  he  shall  not  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.'  " — S.  Aug.  de  Peccat.  Merit,  et.  Remis.  i.  ^  26. 

f  John  iii.  1 — 9.  is  a  lesson  in  the  Armenian  Baptismal  service,  [see  Assem. 
Cod.  Liturg.  t.  ii.  p.  196—206  ;]  in  that  of  MaZaiar,  Johnii.  25. — iii.  8.  ib.t.  i. 
p.  188;  that  of  Antioch,  c  3,  1— U,  ib.  p.  229;  that  of  St.  James  of  Edessa, 
from  the  Greek,  c  3,  1 — 6,  p-  248  ;  and  the  Apostolic  Liturgy,  revised  by  Se- 
verus,  t.  ii.  p.  274,  c.  3,  1 — 21,  Coptic  and  ^'Ethiopic,  [t  ii.  p.  154.]  Iri  the 
Western  Church,  part  of  the  beginning  of  each  of  the  four  Gospels  was  read 
in  the  service  for  the  Catechumens,  yet  not  simply  as  the  beginning,  but  be- 
cause each  contained  something  suited  thereto.     The  portions  read  were  St. 

VOL.  II. — 2. 


34 

the  Western  have  some  corresponding  passages  in  the  place  of  the 
Gospel ;  but  both  East  and  West,  the  Churches  of  St.  James,  St. 
Mark,  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  St.  John,  St.  Thomas,  and  those 
whose  human  founders  are  not  known, — the  Church  of  Egypt,  of 
Antioch,  of  Armenia,  of  Ethiopia,  of  Malabar,  of  Constantinople, 
Rome,  Gaul,  Milan,  the  Goths,  all  not  new  or  of  yesterday  but 
from  remote  antiquity,  attest  that  their  forefathers  understood  the 
words  of  our  Lord  in  no  other  sense.  The  truth  so  contained  in 
the  text  recurs  in  every  form  ;  it  occurs  in  the  prayer  for  the 
hallowing*  of  the  Baptismal   Fountain,  or  (as  in  our  own  Liturgy) 

Matt.  i.  18 — 21,  "  The  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise,"  to  "  He  shall 
save  his  people  from  their  sins"  St.  Marki.l — 8.  to  "  He  shall  baptize  you 
with  the  Holy  Ghost"  St.  Luke  i.  5 — 17.  to  "  make  ready  a  people  prepared 
for  the  Lord."  St.  John  i.  1 — 14.  the  Incarnation  of  the  Eternal  Word  to 
"  who  were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  but  of  God."  These  Gospels  occur  in  the  Sacramentary  of  Gelasius, 
[ap.  Assem.  t.  i.  p.  9,  10,  from  a  MS.  of  the  seventh  century]  of  Gregory,  [lb. 
p.  22.  MS.  of  ninth  century  ;]  Gothic  and  Galilean  Missal  (early  part  of  eighth 
century)  p.  35 ;  Galilean  Sacramentary  (end  of  seventh  century,)  p  40 ;  Mis- 
sal of  (iJellone,  pp.  57,  58  ;  Poictiers  (end  of  ninth  century,)  p  63»  64i  68,  69 ; 
Vietri,  Naples,  p.  75  ;  Vienne,  pp.  77,  78,  79,  80;  Liege,  pp.  83,  84. 

*  Old  Roman  Sacramentary  of  Gelasius,  (Ass.  ii.  4;)  Gregory,  ib.  p.  8; 
Apameain  Syria,  (fourteenth  century)  p.  75 ;  GaUican,  Colbert,  ninth  century, 
p.  63 ;  Moisac,  ninth  century,  p.  68. 

"  Let  the  power  of  Thy  Spirit  descend  into  the  fulness  of  this  fountain,  and 
impart  to  the  whole  substance  of  this  water  the  power  of  regenerating.  Here 
be  all  stains  of  sins  blotted  out.  Be  the  nature  here  formed  in  Thy  imageand 
restored  to  the  glory  of  its  first  estate,  cleansed  from  all  defilements  of  the 
old  man  ;  that  every  one  who  cometh  to  this  sacrament  of  regeneration  may 
be  born  again  to  the  new  infancy  of  a  real  innocence.'' 

Old  Gothic  (ib.  p.  34.) 

"  O  Lord,  who  sanctifiedst  the  river  Jordan  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  let 
the  angel  of  Thy  blessing  descend  upon  these  waters,  that  thy  servants  be- 
ing bedewed  with  them,  may  receive  remission  of  sins,  and  being  born  of  wa- 
ter and  the  Spirit,  may  serve  Thee  devotedly  for  ever.    Through  our  Lord,  &c." 

Old  GaUican  (ib.  p.  38.) 

•'  Let  us,  with  one  mind  and  humble  prayer,  beseech  the  God  of  everlasting 
gifts  and  healthful  graces,  that  through  His  Word,  Wisdom  and  Power,  His 
Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  He  would  grant  to  His  people,  coming  to  the 
health-giving  Baptism,  the  grace  of  the  new  birth  ;  and  wholly  removing 
hence  all  approach  of  any  evil,  pour  His  Holy  Spirit  into  the  life-giving 
Bath  ;  that  when  the  people,  thirsting  after  righteousness,  entereth  the  health- 
giving  waters,  they  may  truly  (as  is  written)  be  '  born  again  of  water  and 
the  Spirit,'  and  being  buried  with  their  Redeemer  in  the  Bath,  after  the  like- 
ness of  the  Holy  and  Divine  mystery,  and  dying  with  Him  in  Baptism,  may 
rise  with  Him  in  His  kingdom.    Through,  &c." 


35 

as  the  ground*  why  the  port  of  Baptism  was  sought  after ;  in  prayer 

"And  again, — '  Sanctify  this  fountain,  Thou  Sanctifier  of  the  human  race; 
fit  this  place  for  the  influence  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit;  let  the  old  Adam  be  buried 
here,  &c.' "  (as  in  our  Liturgy.) 

Constantinople  and  Greek  Church  (ib.  p.  138.) 

"Thou  hast  said,  O  Lord,  '  wash  and  become  ye  clean,  put  away  iniqui- 
ties from  your  souls.'  (Is.  i.  16.)  Thou  hast  bestowed  on  us  the  new  birth 
from  above,  through  'water  and  the  Spirit.'  Manifest  Thyself,  O  Lord,  over 
this  [water,]  and  grant  that  whoso  is  baptised  therein  may  be  transformed,  so 
as  to  'put  off  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts, 
and  put  on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  after  the  image  of  Him  who  created 
him,'  that  'having  been  planted  through  Baptism  in  the  likeness  of  His  death, 
he  may  be  a  partaker  also  of  the  resurrection,'  &c." 

Church  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  {Syriac)   (ib.  pp.  220,  231.)  Apostolic,  as 
arranged  by  Severus,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  p.  291. 

"  Do  Thou,  O  Lord  of  all,  make  these  waters,  waters  of  comfort,  waters  of 
joy  and  gladness,  &c.  For  Thou  hast  said,  'Wash  ye,  be  ye  clean,  put  away 
iniquities  from  your  hearts.'  Thou  hast  given  regeneration  '  by  water  and  the 
Spirit,'  and  to  Thee  we  uplift  glory  and  thanksgiving,  and  to  Thy  Only  Begot- 
ten Son,  and  to  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  now  and  for  ever.     Amen." 

Coptic  and  Ethiopic  (t.  ii.  pp.  166 — 7.) 

"  Since  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  descending 
into  the  Jordan,  cleansed  its  waters,  bare  witness,  saying,  '  Unless  a  man  be 
born  again  of  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven' — O  Lord,  upon  this  water,  and  by  it  and  by  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  through 
Thy  Divine  Power,  regenerate  Thy  servant,  who  hath  offered  himself  to 
Thee." 


*  Maronite,  (arranged  by  St.  James  of  Sarug,  fifth  century.)     Address  by 
Deacon  (ib.  t.  ii.  p.  344.) 

"  Nor  doth  he  receive  the  heavenly  kingdom  who  is  not  baptised  and  cleans- 
ed. Come,  my  beloved,  become  children  of  the  Church  and  of  Baptism,  which 
reneweth  what  is  decayed  in  you,  and  healeth  your  wounds.  Put  off  what  is 
old,  by  the  waters  of  Baptism,  and  put  on  the  robe  of  glory  through  the  Holy 
Spirit  from  the  water,  &c." 

Armenian  (t.  ii.  p.  198.) 

"Moreover,  Thou  hast  decreed,  through  Thy  unfailing  Word,  that  they 
'who  are  not  regenerated  of  water  and  the  Spirit  shall  not  see  eternal  life  ;' 
wherefore,  this  Thy  servant,  affrighted,  desiring  eternal  life,  cometh  willingly 
to  the  spiritual  Baptism  of  this  water.  Send  forth,  we  beseech  Thee,  0  Lord, 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  into  this  water,  as  Thou  sanctifiedst  Jordan,  &c." 


36 

to  God*  to  make  them  fit  to  receive  it ;  in  thanksgiving!  to  Him  for 

*  Old  Roman  Church.  Gdasius,  t.  i.  p.  21.  (in  eight  MSS.  oi  eighth  century, 
Gellone,  Rheims,  Anglican  in  Monastery  of  Jumiege,  Noyon,  Poictiers, 
MSS.  of  Royal  and  Colbertine  Libraries,  Moisac  near  Thoulouse,  Mar- 
tene  de  Antiq.  Eccl.  Rit.  L.  i.  c.  i.  p.  38.)  Prayer  on  admitting  a  hea- 
then as  a  Catechumen. 

"  Deign  to  hear  him,  who  boweth  his  neck  before  Thee  ;  let  him  come  to 
the  fountain  of  the  washing,  that  being  'born  again  of  water  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,'  and  '  being  freed  from  the  old  man,  he  may  put  on  the  new  man,  which 
is  created  after  Thee ;'  let  him  receive  the  incorrupt  and  spotless  clothing,  and 
be  accounted  worthy  to  serve  Thee  our  Lord,  through  the  Lord,  &c." 

Church  of  Antioch,  i.  220 ;  Apostolic,  by  Severus,  t.  ii.  p.  266.     (For  Cate- 
chumens.) 

"  Write  Thy  fear  in  their  hearts,  that  they  may  know  the  emptiness  of  this 
world,  and  tliat  putting  from  them  all  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  they 
may  be  made  meet  for  the  regeneration,  which  is  from  above,  of  water  and  the 
Spirit,  &c." 

Apostolic,  by  Severus  (t.  ii.  p.  267.) 

"  God,  who  out  of  His  love  was  in  an  incomprehensible  manner  made  man, 
of  the  Holy  Virgin,  with  a  human  body,  yet  born  without  generation,  that 
He  might  bring  the  sons  of  men  to  the  adoption  of  sons  of  His  Father,  and 
might  make  them  sons  of  God  by  water  and  the  Spirit :  do  Thou,  O  Lord, 
cover  with  the  right  hand  of  Thy  mercy  this  Thy  servant,  who  is  prepared  for 
Holy  Baptism,  and  sanctify,  cleanse,  and  wash  him  with  Thy  holy  hyssop,  and 
unite  him  with  Thy  spiritual  and  holy  sheep,  &c." 

A  short  form  by  Severus  (t.  ii.  p.  302.) 

"  And  grant  him  by  Thy  mercy,  the  new  birth  by  '  water  and  the  Spirit,'  and 
make  him|[meet  for  the  good  things  which  are  from  Thee,  through  the  goodness 
and  mercy  of  Thy  Christ,  &c." 

Antioch  revised  (t.  i.  pp.  224,  225.) 

"  Do  thou  perfect  by  '  water  and  the  Spirit,'  and  make  them  sons  of  the  new 
birth  for  the  remission  of  sins  and  the  clothing  of  incorruption ;  put  off  from  them 
the  old  man,  which  is  corrupted  through  the  deceitful  lusts,  and  clothe  them  with 
the  new  clothing,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  in  the  likeness  of  Thee,  O 
Creator  ;  where  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Syrian,  neither  circumcision  nor  un- 
circumcision,  but  in  all  and  in  each  is  Thy  dwelling-place.  For  Thou  hast  said 
in  Thy  illumining  and  living  doctrine,  '  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the 
Spirit,'  he  cannot  see  Thy  kingdom.  Wherefore,  O  Lord,  make  them  meet  for 
Thy  heavenly  kingdom." 

Also  the  prayer,  "  Write  Thy  fear,  &c." 

t  Gelasius,  (Ass.  ii-  5;)  Gregory,  (ib.  9,  10;)  Modern  Roman,  (pp.  18,  19 — 
30;)  Old  Gallican,  (p.  39,  from  MS.  of  seventh  century,  p.  42;)  Ambrosian^ 
Milan,  (pp.  47 — 51 ;)  Gellone,  (p-  55;)  Colbertine  MS.  ninth  century,  p.  66  ; 
Moisac,  Isle  of  France,  ninth  century  p.  68;  Anghcan,  from  Norman  MS.  p. 
70  ;  Cologne,  p.  73 ;  Apamea  in  Syria,  p.  76 ;  Paris  and  Lodi  in  Italy,  p.  67  ; 
Vienne,  p.  61. 


37 

liaving  Ibestowed  it,  and  prayer  to  Him  to  keep  this  His  gift  in  them 
^0  the  end.     It  occurs  also  in  the  prayer  of  the  minister  that  he  may 

Western  Church  (prayer  at  the  Chrism  after  Baptism.) 

"  Almighty  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  regenerated 
'thee  by  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  hath  given  thee  remission  of  all  sins, 
He  anoints  thee  with  the  unction  of  salvation  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  to  life 
eternal." 

Gelasius,  (Ass.  ii.  7;)  Gellone,  (p.  58;)  Rheims,  (MS.  of  eighth  century, 
p.  59  ;)  Chelle  Diocese  of  Paris,  ninth  century,  p.  63  ;)  Colder  tin,  MS.  ninth 
century,  (p.  66;)  Moisac,  (ninth  century,  p.  70  ;)  Anglican,  (p.  71 ;)  Cologne, 
(p.  74.) 

"  Almighty  everlasting  God,  who  hast  regenerated  Thy  servant  by  '  water 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,'  and  hast  given  him  remission  of  all  sins,  grant  him  con- 
tinual health  to  acknowledge  the  truth  of  Thy  Unity  through  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Gothic  (p.  36.) 

"  Let  us  pray,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  our  Lord  and  God  for  these  His 
regenerate,  who  have  now  been  baptised,  that  when  the  Saviour  shall  come  in 
His  majesty.  He  may  clothe  them  with  salvation,  whom  He  has  born  again  '  of 
water  and  the  Holy  Spirit.'  "     (Collect  after  giving  the  white  vestment.) 

Old  Gallican,  (MS.  of  seventh  century,  ib.  p.  43.) 

"  O  Lord  God  Almighty,  do  Thou,  in  these  Thy  servants  whom  Thou  hast 
appointed  to  be  born  again  '  of  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,'  preserve  that  holy 
Baptism  which  they  have  received,  and  be  pleased  to  perfect  it  to  the  hallow- 
ing of  Thy  Holy  Name  ;  that  thy  grace  may  ever  avail  to  them,  and  that  what 
they  have  received  by  Thy  free  gift  they  may  keep  by  the  integrity  of  their 
life." 

Church  of  Jerusalem  (p.  254.)  (Prayer  with  offering  of  incense.) 

"  0  God,  the  Word,  Begotten  from  everlasting, — who,  by  thy  life-giving  dis- 
pensation, breaking  down  the  barrier  of  the  ancient  enmity,  hast  given  to  the 
human  race  a  second  birth  '  of  water  and  the  Spirit,'  the  bright  robe  of 
Baptism,  and  the  heavenly  gift  of  adoption,  and  kindred  with  the  Father  and 
the  Spirit, — grant  that  we  may  stand  in  fear  and  trembling  before  Thee,  stand- 
ing pure  and  without  falling,  until  our  last  breath,  clothed  with  the  royal  robe 
of  holy  Baptism,  which  Thou  hast  wrought  for  us  through  Thy  Divine  good- 
ness, and  which,  by  an  unfeigned  faith,  is  kept  whole,  &.c." 

Church  of  Antioch.  (Apostolic  by  Severus,  on  raising  the  Baptized  from  the 
Water,  a  hymn,  t.  ii.  p.  300.) 

"  Spread  thy  wings,  Holy  Church,  and  receive  the  gentle  lamb,  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  hath  begotten  of  the  waters  of  Baptism.  Hail,  thou  new  lamb, 
son,  begotten  of  Baptism,  whom  I  have  begotten  of  the  waters,  in  the  Name 
of  the  Trinity." 

In  the  order  by  Severus  himself,  p.  266,  note,  there  occurs  : 

"  The  filth  of  our  sins,  and  the  stains  which  come  from  the  enemy,  we  wash 
off  this  day,  in  the  laver  which  is  of  water  and  the  Spirit." 


38 

be  made  worthy*  to  administer  so  high  a  mystery.  And  now  let  any 
one,  who  wishes  to  see  the  truth,  labor  to  lay  aside  prejudice,  and 
without  bias  to  review  this  evidence.  It  relates  to  no  insulated 
point,  no  bye  or  incidental  question,  which  may  be  laid  aside  or  as- 
sumed without  affecting  the  rest.  It  lies,  as  is  confessed,  at  the 
root  of  the  whole  system  ;  as  some  say,  a  deadening  doctrine  ;  as 
the  old  Church  found  it,  full  of  life  ;  but,  in  either  case,  it  is  the  point 
from  which  the  two  opposite  systems,  which  divide  the  Church, 
diverge.  Let  a  person,  then,  consider  what  the  evidence  is.  Every 
vestige  of  Christian  writing  which  God  has  preserved  to  us  from  the 
ancient  Cluirch,  that  explains  the  words,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  the  Spirit,"  assumes,  that  they  declare  that  in  Baptism 
we  are  born  from  above,  through  our  Saviour's  gift :  every  passage, 
which  speaks  of  the  privileges  of  Baptism  at  all,  implies  the  same  ; 
their  whole  system  of  theology  presupposes  it ;  every  branch  of  the 
whole  Church,  independent  as  they  may  have  been  in  their  origin, 
ingraft  upon  their  Baptismal  Liturgies,  (and  in  this  sense,)  our  Lord's 
words,  *'  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit."  The  doc- 
trine seems  to  militate  against  predestinarian  views,  yet  St.  Augus- 
tine, the  author  of  those  views,  and  his  disciples,  maintained  and 
urged  it :  heretics,  whose  interest  it  was  aforetime  to  deny  it,  retain- 
ed, in  their  own  sense,  their  belief  in  this  ;  until,  at  last,  after  the 
Church  had  borne  witness  to  it  for  fifteen  centuries,  one  man  arose 
and  denied  it.  Now,  let  any  one  find  any  other  instance  in  which 
the  whole  Church  has  thus  uniformly  held  any  doctrine,  which  can 
be  proved  to  be  an  error ;  if  he  cannot,  let  him  ask  himself  what 
ground  he  has  for  supposing  them  to  be  in  error  on  this,  for  setting 
a  modern  novelty  against  the  consent  of  the  whole  Church,  or  how 
the  supposition  of  such  an  error  is  consistent  with  his  Saviour's  pro- 
mise, never  to  forsake  His  Church. 

But,  combining  this  consent  with  our  Lord's  words,  the  argument 
becomes  so  strong,  that  with  one  who  loves  his  Saviour,  and  is  not 
hindered  by  a  long  contrary  bias,  I  would  gladly  rest  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  Baptismal  Regeneration  upon  this  one  consideration.  How- 
ever men  may  think  that  the  words  do  not  require  this  interpretation, 

*  Greek  and  Syriac.     Apostolic  Liturgy  translated  from  the  Greek  by  James 
of  Edessa.     (Prayer  in  offering  the  incense.     T.  i.  p.  256.) 

"  Giver  of  Holiness  and  Saviour  of  the  human  race,  Thou  who  hast  transform- 
earthly  things  into  a  good  and  heavenly  order,  and  hast  renewed  the  way  of 
salvation  '  through  water  and  the  Spirit,'  and  hast  by  the  love  of  Thy  Christ 
brought  us  to  that  life,  and  hast  set  us  miserable  sinners  as  Thy  servants  in  the 
presence  of  Thy  glory — fill  us  with  the  might  of  thy  Holy  Spirit  and  the  grace 
of  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son,  and  make  us  able  to  be  ministers  of  Thy  New 
Testament,  and  that  with  knowledge,  and  faith  and  repentance »  we  may  be  fit 
now  also  to  minister  to  Thy  all-glorious  name." 

Also  in  the  Apostolic  form  arranged  by  Severus,  Patriarch  of  Antioch,  t.  ii. 
p.  286. 


39 

ihey  will  readily  admit  that  it  is  an  obvious,  perhaps  (apart  from 
other  considerations)  the  more  obvious  meaning  ;  add,  then,  to  this, 
that  the  Christian  Church  uniformly,  for  fifteen  centuries,  interpreted 
these  His  words  of  Baptism  ;  that  on  the  ground  of  this  text  alone, 
they  urged  the  necessity  of  Baptism ;  that  upon  it,  mainly,  they 
identified*  regeneration  with  Baptism.  If,  then,  this  be  an  error, 
w^ould  our  Saviour  have  used  words  which  (since  water  was  already 
used  in  the  Jews'  and  John's  Baptism)  must  inevitably,  and  did  lead 
His  Church  into  error  ?  and  which  He,  who  knew  all  things,  must, 
at  the  time  have  known,  would  lead  His  Church  into  error  ;  and  that, 
when,  according  to  Zuingli's  or  Calvin's  interpretation,  His  meaning 
had  been  as  fully  expressed,  had  it  stood,  "  born  of  the  Spirit,"  only. 
Rather,  if  one  may  argue  from  the  result,  one  should  think,  that  our 
Saviour  added  the  words,  *' of  water,"  (upon  which,  in  His  immedi- 
ate converse  with  Nicodemus,  He  does  not  dwell,)  with  the  very 
view,  that  His  Church  should  thence  learn  the  truth,  which  she  has 
transmitted, — that  ^'  regeneration"  is  the  gift  of  God,  bestowed  by 
Him,  in  this  life,  in  Baptism  only.  Indeed  the  opposite  exposition, 
invented  by  the  Swiss  teachers,  was  so  manifestly  a  mere  weapon, 
by  which  to  demolish  a  Papal  argument  for  the  absolute  necessity  of 
Baptism,  that  it  had  hardly  been  worth  commenting  upon,  but  that 
no  error  ever  stops  at  its  first  stage  ;  mere  repetition  hardens  as  well 
as  emboldens  ;  what  is  first  adopted  as  an  expedient,  is  afterwards 
justified  as  being  alone  the  truth — the  mantle,  which  was  assumed  to 
cover  shame,  cleaves  to  us,  like  that  in  the  fable,  until  it  have  sucked 
out  the  very  life  and  marrow  of  our  whole  system.  One  text,  mis- 
quoted in  order  to  disprove  the  absolute  necessity  of  Baptism,  has 
ended  in  the  scarcely  disguised  indifference  or  contempt  of  an  ordi- 
nance of  our  Saviour. 

Not  less  peremptorily,  however,  do  our  Blessed  Saviour's  words 
refuse  to  be  bound  down  to  any  mere  outward  change  of  state, t  or 

*  I  say,  identified,  because,  so  convinced  were  they  of  the  connection  of"  re- 
generation" with  Baptism,  that  they  use  it,  unexplained,  when  the  ordinary 
sense  of  "  regeneration"  were  manifestly  incorrect.  Thus  Jerome  uses  it  of 
the  Baptism  of  our  Saviour,  (L.  1.  c.  Jovinian.  circa  med.  quoted  by  Wall,  In- 
fant Baptism,  p.  19.  :)  as  also  do  others,  where,  if  it  have  any  sense  but  that  of 
"being  baptized,"  it  can  only  mean,  was  "declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God," 
(as  Ps.  ii.  7.  is  sometimes  applied  to  His  Baptism ;)  but  they  never  could  have 
used  "  re-natus"  in  this  sense,  had  they  not  been  accustomed  to  use  it  as  iden- 
tical with  Baptism.  In  like  manner,  in  our  own  Articles  "  renatis,"  in  the 
Latin  copy  (Art.  9,)  is  Englished  by  "  baptized."  As  in  the  Ancient  Church, 
St.  Hilary,  on  the  confession  of  Faith  in  Baptism,  "  Didst  thou  not,  when  thou 
wast  re-born  (renascens,)  confess  that  the  Son  of  God  was  born  of  Mary  V — 
Be  Trin.  L.  ix.  c.  49. 

f  Whitaker  de  Sacr.  q.  iv.  c.  2.  ad  test.  1.  ex  Concil.  Nic.  1.  ap.  Gataker, 
p.  123.  "  The  Fathers  did  not  mean  to  be  understood  to  the  letter,  (that  there 
*'  was  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;  but  the  Council  thus  speaks  be- 
cause Baptism  designates  a  new  state."    I  cannot  but  think,  tooi  that  Water- 


40 

circumstances,  or  relation,  however  glorious  the  privileges  of  that 
new  condition  may  be.  For  this  were  the  very  opposite  error  ;  and 
whereas  the  former  interpretation  "  dried*  up"  the  water  of  Baptism, 
so  does  this  quench  the  Spirit  therein.  One  may,  indeed,  rightly  in- 
fer, that  since  the  Jews  regarded  the  baptized  proselyte  as  a  new- 
born child, t  our  Saviour  would  not  have  connected  the  mention  of 
water  with  the  new  birth,  unless  the  new  birth,  which  He  bestowed, 
had  been  bestowed  through  Baptism  :  but  who  would  so  fetter  down 
the  fulness  of  our  Saviour's  promises,  as  that  His  words  should  mean 
nothing  more  than  they  would  in  the  mouth  of  the  dry  and  unspirit- 
ual  Jewish  legalists  ?  or,  because  they,  proud  of  the  covenant  with 
Abraham,  deemed  that  the  passing  of  a  proselyte  into  the  outward 
covenant,  was  a  new  creation,  who  would  infer  that  our  Saviour 
spoke  only  of  an  outward  change  ?  Even  some  among  the  Jews  had 
higher  notions,  and  figured^  that  a  new  soul  descended  from  the  re- 
gion of  spirits,  upon  the  admitted  proselyte.  And  if  it  were  merely 
an  outward  change — a  change  of  condition  only,  wherein  were  the 
solemnity  of  this  declaration,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  ex- 
cept a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God,"  ? 
for  the  "  seeing"  or  "  entering  into"  the  kingdom  of  God,  i.  e. 
the  Church  of  Christ,  (first  militant  on  earth,  and  then  triumphant  in 
heaven,)  was  itself  a  change  of  state,  so  that  the  two  sentences 
would  have  had  nearly  the  same  meaning.  And  who  could  endure 
the  paraphrase,  "  unless  a  man  be  brought  into  a  stale  outwardly  dif- 
ferent, he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  ?"  But  our  Saviour  Him- 
self has  explained  His  own  words.  To  be  "  born  of  the  Spirit," 
stands  opposed  to  the  being  "  born  of  the  flesh."  As  the  one  birth 
is  real,  so  must  the  other  be  ;  the  agents,  truly,  are  different,  and  so 
also  the  character  of  life  produced  by  each  :  in  the  one  case,  physi- 
cal agents,  and  so  piiysical  life,  desires,  powers  ;  and,  since  from  a 
corrupted  author,  powers  weakened  and  corrupted  :  in  the  other,  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  so  spiritual  life,  strength,  faculties,  energies  ; 
still,  in  either  case,  a  real  existence  ;  and,  to  the  Christian,  a  new, 
real,  though  not  merely  physical  beginning — an  existence  real,  though 
invisible — and,  though  worked  by  an  unseen  Agent,  yet  (when  not 
stifled)  felt  in  its  effects,  like  the  energy  of  the  viewless  winds. § 

land's  statements  lead  to  too  outward  a  view,  at  least  in  the  case  of  infants, 
an  outward  admission  to  privileges  which  may  afterwards  become  inward.  In 
saying  this,  however,  I  mean  not  to  depreciate  the  services,  which  on  this,  as 
on  other  subjects,  Waterland  has  rendered  to  the  Church. 

*  Hooker,  1.  c. 

t  See  Lightfoot,  ad  loc.  Archbishop  Laurence's  Doctrine  of  Baptismal  Re- 
generation, p.  28.     See  note  AA.  at  the  end. 

1  Archbisliop  Laurence,  1.  c.  pp.  31,  32.     See  note  AA. 

\  The  two  births,  the  natural  and  the  baptismal,  are  eloquently  contrasted 
by  St.  Augustine  : — "  One  is  of  the  earth,  the  other  of  heaven ;  one  of  the 
flesh,  the  other  of  the  Spirit ;  one  of  mortality,  the  other  of  eternity  ;  one  of 
man  and  womani  the  other  of  God  and  the  Church." — In  Joann.  Tract.  li. 


41 

This  birth  "  of  the  water  and  the  Spirit"  our  Blessed  Saviour  de- 
clared to  be  afwesp,  I.  e.  (as  seems  probable)  not  simply  that  we  must 
be  born  again,  (for  this  is  implied  by  the  very  saying  that  one  now 
living  must  be  born,)  but  "from  above,"  as  the  word  ai/(o0£c  is  al- 
ways used  by  St.  John,  and  indeed  throughout  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Nicodemus,  namely,  had  (in  the  name  of  himself  and 
others)  confessed  that  our  Lord  "  was  come  from  God,"  and  then 
made  a  sort  of  inquiring  pause,  (as  it  would  appear,)  as  to  the  signs 
of  His  coming,  or  the  mode  of  His  manifestation.*  Carnal  notions 
of  our  Lord's  kingdom  were  probably  at  the  root  of  his  error  ;  he 
thought  that  the  kingdom  of  God  would  come  with  observation,  and 
awaited  its  coming.  Our  Lord,  seeing  the  love  of  trutb  mixed  with 
his  natural  fearfulness,  graciously  prepared  him  for  the  contrary, 
and  connected  the  discovery  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  His  Itingdom 
with  the  confession  of  Nicodemus.  As  if  He  had  said,  "  I  am,  in- 
deed, come  down  from  God  {and  Qeov,)  and  he  can  only  see  My 
kingdom,  who  is  horn  from  above,  ox  from  God.  The  children  only 
of  the  kingdom  can  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom,  the  children 
of  God  tlie  things  of  God."  "  Nicodemus,"  says  St.  Chryscstom, 
"thought  that  he  had  made  some  great  confession  of  Christ  when  he 
had  so  spoken.  But  what  saith  Christ  ?  He  showeth  that  he  had 
not  reached  the  very  threshold  or  vestibule  of  the  true  knowledge  ; 
but  that  he,  and  all  who  spake  thus,  were  yet  straying  without  the  pa- 
lace, and  had  not  even  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  true  knowledge,  who 
had  such  thoughts  of  the  Only-Begotten.  What  said  He  ?  *  Verily, 
verily,'&c.,  i.  e.  'unless  thou  be  born  from  above,  and  receivest  the 
truth,  thou  wanderest  without,  and  art  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God  ;' 
only  to  make  the  words  less  grievous.  He  speaketh  not  plainly  but 
indefinitely,  '  unless  a  man,' — all  but  saying, '  whether  thou  or  any 
other  thinkest  this  of  Me,  he  is  without  the  kingdom — '  What  He 
says  then  is  of  this  sort,  '  Unless  thou  be  born  again,  unless  thou  re- 
ceive the  Spirit  through  the  bath  of  regeneration,  thou  canst  not  re- 
ceive the  fitting  conception  of  Me.  For  this  conception  [that  He  was 
a  teacher  only]  is  not  spiritual,  but  carnal.  For  it  is  impossible  for 
him  who  is  not  so  born  to  see  the  kingdom  of  God  ;'  Christ  here 
pointing  to  Himself,  and  showing  that  He  is  not  that  only  which  was 
seen,  but  that  we  have  need  of  other  eyes  to  see  the  Christ." 

So  then  our  Lord  declares  here  the  mystery,  not  only  of  a  new 

no.  6.     See  a  similar  passage  against  the  Pelagians,  de  peccat.  meritis  et  re- 
miss. L.  3.  c.  2. 

*  This  connection  has  been  suggested  by  Lightfoot  ad  loc,  and  others  from 
him ;  "  Since  then  there  was  so  earnest  an  expectation  among  the  Jews  of  the 
coming  and  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  and  Nicodemus  appears  to  have  thought 
the  miracles  of  Christ  an  indication  and  specimen  thereof,  Christ  instructs  him, 
how  he  may  be  fit  to  see  and  enter  into  that  kingdom,  and  enjoy  the  blessings 
•of  those  times." 


42 

birth,  but  of  a  birth  "  from  above,"*  "  from  God,"  as  the  beloved 

*  Besides  vv.  3.  7.  it  occurs  in  St.  John  v.  31.  "  He  who  cometh/rom  above ;" 
xix.  11.  "given  thee  from  above;'"  and  xix.  23.  St.  Matt,  xxvii.  51.  Mark  xv. 
38,  "woven  from  above."  So  in  St.  James  i.  17.  "is/rom  above,  coming  down 
from  the  Father;"  iii.  15.  ^'' coming  down  from  above  ;"  iii.  17.  "  the  wisdom 
from  above. ''^  In  the  only  other  cases  in  which  it  occurs  in  St.  Luke  and  St. 
Paul  it  signifies  "  from  above"  of  time,  St.  Lukei.  3.  Acts  xxvi.  5.  Gal.  iv.  9. 
In  the  LXX.  it  occurs  seventeen  times,  always  in  the  sense  of  "  above"  and 
"  from  above  ;"  nine  times  answering  to  nSpn'^n,  which  word  our  Lord  may 
have  here  used,  (Nyv'?n).  The  authority  of  Antiquity  goes  the  same  way. 
S.  Crysostome  gives  the  two  renderings,  ad  loc,  "the  word  avwdtv  some  say 
'  from  heaven,'  others,  '  again,'  "  but  does  not  decide  ;  yet  his  language  leads 
one  to  think  that  he  took  that  sense  which  he  placed  fiirst,  and  so  his  Benedic- 
tine editors  have  translated  him  throughout,  "  desuper."  And  so  (which  has 
much  weight,)  Theophylact  manifestly  understood  him  ;  for  in  his  commentary, 
which  is  here  a  sort  of  paraphrase  of  St.  Chrysostom,  he  says,  "  Since  Nico- 
demus  had  a  low  notion  of  Christ,  that  he  was  a  teacher,  and  God  was  with 
Him,  the  Lord  says  to  him,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  he  should  have  such 
conceptions  of  Me  ;  for  not  as  yet  have  you  been  hoxn  from  above ;  i.  e.  the 
spiritual  birth  of  God  (w  Qcoi). — But  I  say  unto  thee,  that  thou,  or  whosoever 
is  not  born  from  above  and  of  God,"  &c.  (where  the  «  Qeov  is  inserted  to  ex- 
plain the  avudcv,  which  Chrysostom  uses  in  this  same  sentence.)  ''  For  the 
birth  through  Baptism,  illumining  the  soul,  enables  a  person  to  see,  i.  e.  to 
perceive,  the  kingdom  of  God,  i.e.  His  Only-Begotten  Son."  And  before 
Chrysostom,  Origen  (lib.  v.  in  Ep.  ad  Rom.  ^8.)  "  avuQev  signifies  both  '  again' 
and  '  from  above.'  But  here,  since  he  who  is  baptized  by  Jesus,  is  baptized 
in  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  must  be  understood  not  as  '  again,'  but '  from  above  ;' 
for  we  say  '  again'  when  the  same  things  are  repeated ;  but  here  the  same 
birth  is  not  repeated,  but  setting  aside  this  earthly  birth,  a  new  birth  is 
received  from  above,  and  so  we  should  read  more  correctly  in  the  Gospel, 
'unless  a  man  be  born  from  above,'  for  this  it  is  to  be  born  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."  (This  last  paragraph,  "  and  so  we  should  read  more  correctly,"  fee- 
must  be  the  translator's  Ruffinus,  making  Origen's  interpretation  his  own,  since 
in  Latin  only  could  there  be  any  question  about  the  reading ;  in  the  original 
avbidcv  expressed  both ;  so  we  have  here  the  authority  of  Ruffinus  also.)  St. 
Cyril  of  Alexandria  (whose  explanation  is  like  Chrysostom's)  compares  (ad  loc.) 
the  use  of  w  tmv  avw,  "I  am  from  above,"  John  viii.  23,  and  at  the  end  of  this 
eh.  V.  31.  0  avwQtv  ipxopicvos,  "he  that  cometh  from  above,"  and  explains  it 
thus  :  "  it  is  the  will  of  the  Father  that  man  should  be  made  partaker  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  being  born  to  an  unwonted  and  foreign  life,  and  that  man,  being  of 
the  earth  should  be  a  citizen  of  heaven.  But  in  that  He  says  that  the  new 
birth  through  the  Spirit  is  '  from  above,'  He  showeth  plainly  that  the  Spirit  is 
of  the  essence  of  the  God  and  Father,  and  of  Himself  He  says,  '  I  am  of 
'  above.'  Ammonius  (Catena  Corderi)  explains  also  '  from  above,'  and 
argues  in  the  same  way  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem 
seems  to  take  it  in  the  same  way,  since  he  compares  and  contrasts  our  birth  "  of 
water  and  the  Spiiit"  with  that  of  Christ  of  the  Father,  and  with  St.  John  i. 
12,  and  it  is  adopted  in  the  Greek  liturgy,  (Ass.  ii.  138.)  "thou  hast  grant- 
ed us  the  regeneration  from  al)ove  {rhv  aui^dcv  dvaycwrtaii')  through  water 
and  the  Spirit,"  (where  the  avwOev  would  be  superfluous  except  in  this  sense) 
Nonnus  (a.  d.  410)  alone  of  the  Greek  writers  (as  far  aslam  aware)  interprets 
avwQev  'again;'  and  this,  in  a  question  of  Greek  interpretation,  has  great 
weight ;  and  with  it,  the  fact  that  St.  John  uses  it  elsewhere  only  in  this  sense. 
The  translations  (Syriac,Vulgate,  Coptic)  have  given  perhaps  the  general  sense 


43 

disciple  from  his  mouth  repeats  it,  "  born  of  God"  (John  i.  13.)  and 
inhis  Epistle  dwells  so  longingly  on  the  words,  "born  of  Him"  (1  John 
ii.  29.)  "  born  of  God"  (iii.  9.  iv.  7.  v.  1.  4.  18.)  "  of  God"(«  ^"^  Q'"") 
(iii.  10.  iv.  1,  2,  3,  4.  6.  v.  19.)  "  children  of  God"  (iii.  2.  10.  v,  2.) 
which  he  so  intertwines  as  being  identical  one  with  another.  No 
change  of  heart,  then,  or  of  the  affections,  no  repentance,  however 
radical,  no  faith,  no  life,  no  love,  come  up  to  the  idea  of  this  "birth 
from  above  ;"  it  takes  them  all  in,  and  comprehends  them  all,  but 
itself  is  more  than  all ;  it  is  not  only  the  creation  of  a  new  heart,  new 
affections,  new  desires,  and  as  it  were  a  new  birth,  but  is  an  actual 
birth  from  above  or  from  God,  a  gift  coming  down  from  God,  and 
given  to  faith,  through  Baptism;  yet  not  the  work  of  faith,  but  the 
operation  of  "  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,"  the  Holy  Spirit  giving  us 
a  new  life,  in  the  fountain  opened  by  Him,  and  we  being  born  there- 
in of  Him,  even  as  our  Blessed  and  Incarnate  Lord  was,  according 
to  the  flesh,  born  q/"Him  in  the  Virgin's  womb.  Faith  and  repent- 
ance are  the  conditions  on  which  God  gives  it ;  water,  sanctified  by 
our  Lord's  Baptism,  the  womb  of  our  new  birth  ;  love,  good  works, 
increasing  faith,  renovated  affections,  heavenly  aspirations,  conquest 
over  the  flesh,  its  fruits  in  those  who  persevere  ;  but  it  itself  is  the 
gift  of  God,  a  gift  incomprehensible,  and  not  to  be  confounded  with  or 
restrained  to  any  of  its  fruits,  (as  a  change  of  heart,  or  conversion,) 
but  illimitable  and  incomprehensible,  as  that  great  mystery  from 
which  it  flows,  the  incarnation  of  our  Redeemer,  the  Ever-Blessed 
Son  of  God. 

only  in  that  they  have  rendered  "  again,"  (Euthymius  certainly,  who  is  com- 
monly quoted  for  this  rendering,  really  expresses  himself  neither  way)  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  a  trace  of  the  other  interpretation  occurs  in  their  Liturgies. 
as  in  the  Syriac,  "  the  new  birth,  which  is  from  above,''''  (Ass.  i.  220.  sup.  p.  38;) 
and  in  another  (t.  ii.  p.  255.)  "the  gift  from  above  of  adoption"  (sup.  p.  39;) 
and  so  perhaps  also  the  Latin  in  the  ninth  century,  ''the  everlasting  benediction 
of  the  heavenly  washing."     (Ass.  i.  24.) 

The  only  apparent  grounds  for  the  rendering  "  born  again"  are,  first,  the  use 
of  the  word  "regeneration"  in  Tit.  iii.  5;  Secondly,  that  Nicodemus  has  been 
thought  so  to  understand  it.  But  (as  has  been  observed)  Nicodemus's  answer 
is,  *'  Can  a  man  be  born  [not  "born  again"]  when  he  is  old  V — "Can  he  enter 
a  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb,  and  be  born  V  wherein  the  second 
sentence  is  an  inference  from  the  first,  and  the  stress  is  not  upon  the  being 
"born  again"  but  on  the  Sevrepov  datXMv,  so  that  the  words  are  in  no  way  a  com- 
mentary on  our  Lord's  words.  And  any  birth  of  one  already  born  must  be  a 
second  birth,  so  that  Nicodemus's  words,  if  they  applied  ever  so  strictly,  would 
apply  just  as  well  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  passage  of  St.  Paul ;  it  is  an  evil  mode  ofinterpretation,  which  would  so  inter- 
pret one  Scripture  by  another  as  to  restrain  the  larger  by  the  limits  of  the 
less.  St.  Paul  declares  the  mystery  "  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
HolyGhost ;"  the  Son  of  God  speaks  more  fully  of  our  sonship  to  God,  our  be- 
ing "  born"  not  •' again"  only,  but  "  from  above,"  "of  God."  One  should 
look  also  for  explanation  rather  to  our  Lord's  own  words  than  to  those  of  Nico- 
demus ;  and  h3  explains  "  being  born  avwOcv''''  by  "  being  born  ofwater  and  the 
Spirit,"  v.  5,  whereof  He  names  "  the  Spirit"  only,  vv.  6.  8, 


44 

Thus,  then,  we  are  sons  of  God,  because  He,  in  Whom  and  of 
Whom  we  are  made,  is  the  Son  of  God,  not  by  any  figure  or  hke- 
ness,  but  actually, — parts  of  the  Second  Adam,  as  we  were  by  nature 
of  the  first ;  by  nature,  of  the  earthy,  by  grace,  of  the  Lord  from 
heaven,  God  Blessed  for  ever ; — and  thus  being  made  sons  of  God, 
we  have  "  our  fellowship  (>fO'>'">"'a)  with  the  Father  and  the  Son"  (St. 
John  i.  3.,)  because  we  are  made  "partakers  ('"'icwvo;)  of  the  Divine 
nature."  (2.  Pet.  i.  4.)  This  overwhelming  mystery  the  Ancient 
Church  would  in  a  measure  express  when  she  spake  of  our  being 
"  Christophori,"  "  Theophori ;"  and  however  strange  these  words 
may  seem  to  our  degenerate  Theology,  so  cold  and  heedless  of  its 
highest  privileges  and  the  highest  doctrines,  she  spake  and  could 
speak  no  more  than  the  Holy  Ghost  had  in  the  written  word  set 
down. 

The  words  of  our  Lord,  then,  "  birth /row  above  of  water  and  the 
Spirit,"  are  a  key  to  other  Scripture  ;  they  are  in  themselves  a  high 
revelation,  not  to  be  closed  up  when  we  come  to  read  other  Scripture, 
and  their  fulness  restrainedwithin  themselves,  (as  if,  like  the  heretics 
of  old,  we  looked  upon  different  portions  of  Scripture  as  the  work  of 
another  God,)  but  flowing  over  into  other  parts,  and  imparting  to  them 
the  light  which  they  contain  concentrated  within  them.  Thus  when 
we  read  the  words  "to  them  that  received  Him  gave  He  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  to  them  that  believe  in  His  name,  who 
were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  but  of  God,"  we  are  not  to  take  this  in  a  figurative  way,  as  if 
it  were  a  distinct  statement,  that  through  faith  we  are  accounted  as 
it  were  sons  of  God,  but  as  it  stands,  in  connection  with  the  Incar- 
nation ;  as  it  there  follows,  "  and  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and 
dwelt  among  us  ;"  and  both  in  union  with  that  mystery,  whereby  we 
are  made  partakers  of  the  Incarnation,  being  "  baptised  into  one 
Body,"  the  body  of  our  Incarnate  Lord,  being  actually  "  born  from 
above  of  water  and  the  Spirit  of  God." 

It  is  instructive  to  see  how  the  old  Church  combined  this  declara- 
tion of  St.  John  (i.  12 — H.)  with  the  teaching  (iii.  5.)  and  ordinance 
of  his  Lord,  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  and  both  with  the  Incarna- 
tion ;  and  so,  in  consequence,  how  much  more  they  seem  to'  have 
felt  that  mystery.  They  then  contemplated  God's  majesty  in  all 
the  mysteries  which  he  had  revealed  ;  we  have  made  them  all  so 
systematically  to  bear  upon  one,  the  Death  on  the  Cross,  as  well 
nigh  to  efface  out  of  our  minds  the  rest,  except  in  so  far  as  they 
have  this  bearing. 

To  take  one  instance  only  out  of  an  ancient  sermon  on  our  Lord's 
nativity.* 
;     "  The  earthly  birth  neither  added  to  nor  diminished  the  majesty  of 

*  Leo,  Serm.  7  de  Natio.  Dom. 


45 

the  Son  of  God;  for  an  unchangeable  Substance  can  neither  be  di- 
minished nor  increased.  For  that  '  the  Word  was  made  flesh'  signi- 
fieth  not  that  the  nature  of  God  was  changed  into  flesh,  but  that  flesh 
was  taken  by  the  Word  into  an  unity  of  Person,  and  therein  the 
whole  man  was  taken,  with  whom  (within  the  bowels  of  the  Virgin, 
quickened  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  ever-virgin)  the  Son  of  God  is  so 
inseparably  united,  that  He  who,  before  time  was,  was  begotten  of 
the  Essence  of  the  Father,  now,  in  time,  is  born  of  the  Virgin's 
womb.  For  no  otherwise  could  we  be  freed  from  the  chains  of  eter- 
nal death,  than  by  His  becoming  humbled  among  us,  who  with  His 
own  was  abiding  Almighty.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  then,  being 
born  very  man,  but  ceasing  not  to  be  very  God,  made  in  Himself  the 
commencement  of  a  new  creation,  and  in  the  mould  of  His  birth  gave 
to  the  human  race  a  spiritual  beginning,  so  that,  to  abolish  the  infec- 
tion of  a  carnal  generation,  they  who  were  to  be  re-born  might  have 
an  origin  without  any  seed  of  sin  ;  of  whom  it  is  said,  '  who  were 
born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  men, 
but  of  God.'  What  mind  can  comprehend  this  mystery?  what 
tongue  declare  this  grace  ?  Unrighteousness  restored  to  innocence  ; 
decay  to  freshness  ;  aliens  adopted  ;  foreigners  made  heirs  !  The 
ungodly  righteous  ;  the  covetous  bountiful ;  the  incontinent  chaste  ; 
from  earthly  they  begin  to  be  heavenly.  What  is  this  change,  but 
the  rio-ht  hand  of  the  Most  Hiffh?  Since  the  Son  of  God  came  to 
destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  bo  incorporated  us  into  Himself, 
and  Himself  into  us,  that  the  descent  of  God  to  the  things  of  man, 
shall  be  the  advance  of  man  to  the  things  of  God." 

In  this  passage,  Leo,  as  the  holy  festival  led  him,  dwelt  on  the 
connection  of  our  privilege  of  sonship  to  God,  and  this  declaration 
of  it  by  St.  John,  with  the  Incarnation;  in  others  on  that  of  both  with 
Baptism.     Thus  he  says  in  another  place  :* 

"All  things  then,  which  the  Son  of  God  did  and  taught  for  the 
reconciling  of  the  world,  we  not  only  know  in  the  history  of  past 
actions,  but  we  feel  in  the  power  of  present  deeds.  He  it  is,  who, 
born  of  the  Holy  Spiiitfrom  a  virgin-mother,  quickens  his  undefiled 
Church  with  the  same  infused  Spirit,  that  so  by  the  birth  of  Baptism 
an  innumerable  multitude  of  sons  of  God  may  be  bom,  of  whom  it 
is  spoken,  'who  are  born  not  of  blood,'  "  &c. 

And  again,  in  a  treatise  on  Christian  Hurailityt  (against  the  Pela- 
gians :) 

"  Although  all  the  portions  of  the  same  mystery  meet  together  in 
one,  what  is  enacted  visibly  is  one  thing,  what  is  realized  invisibly  is 
another  ;  nor  in  the  Sacrament  are  the  form  and  the  power  the  same, 
for  the  form  is  ministered  by  the  obedience  of  human  agency,  the 

*  Serm.  63.  de  Passione  Dom,  c.  6. 

f  Epist.  ad  Demetriad.  c.  11.     He  quotes  it  again  of  Baptism,  Ep.  16.  c  6 


46 

power  is  operated  by  the  efFectualness  of  the  Divine  working.  For 
to  His  miglit  alone  is  it  to  be  referred  that  while  the  outward  man  is 
washed,  the  inward  man  is  changed  ;  and  of  the  old  a  new  creature 
is  formed;  vessels  of  wrath  are  transformed  into  vessels  of  mercy; 
and  the  siiiful  flesh  is  changed  into  the  body  of  Christ ;  for  unholy, 
they  are  made  holy  ;  for  captives  free  ;  for  sons  of  men,  sons  of  God, 
'  who  are  born  not  of  blood,  &c.,  but  of  God.'" 

This  was  the  general  interpretation  of  the  Ancient  Church  :  those 
who  quote  the  text,*  of  Baptism,  go  not  about  to  prove  its  reference 
to  it ;  they  assvime  it,  see  it ;  others,  again,  though  they  name  not 
Baptism,  speak  of  these  privileges!  iu  terms  which  they  elsewhere 
use  of  Baptism  :  both  on  the  same  ground  ;  the  one  need  not  prove  it, 
the  other  need  not  express  it,  because  in  those  days  men  knew  of  no 
other  way  whereby  a  man  might  become  a  son  of  God,  than  by  being 
born  in  Baptism  of  the  Holy  iSpirit,  who  is  God.  Hence  St.  Atha- 
nasius  and  others  employ  the  fact  as  a  proof  of  the  Divinity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Having  quoted  the  words  "  who  were  born  not,  &c., 
but  of  God,"   he  infers,*   "  as  many  then  as  were  born  of  the  Holy 

*  e.  g.  S.  Clem-  Alex.  Strom.  ii.l3.  p.  460.  St.  Chrysostome,  ad  loc.  St. 
Athanasius,  sup.  St.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  (in  connection  with  St.  John  iii.  5.)  Cat. 
xi.  ^9.  S.  Cyril  of  Alex,   ad  loc.  and  the  other  Greek  Commentators. 

t  e.  g.  St.  Augustine,  Serm.  121.  de  verb.  Ev.  Joh.  1.  ^5.  uses  language  the 
same  as  he  had  employed  in  Joann.  Tract,  xi.  n.  6.  on  our  Lord's  words,  "  Ex- 
cept a  man  be  bora  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  see  above,  p.  44.  n.  1.  He  also, 
as  well  as  Turtullian,  de  Orat.  c.  2. explains  the  text  of  that  relation  of  God  as 
our  Fatlier,  in  which  "the  Church  is  our  mother  ;"  "  The  first  birth  is  of  male 
and  female  ;  the  second  of  God  and  the  Church  ;"  and  this  is  notoriously  Bap- 
tism :  Theodoret,  as  describing  our  "regeneration  in  Christ,"  (ad  Ep.  1.  ad 
Cor.  c.  i.  ult.;)  Jerome  (adv.  Jovinian,ii.  29,)  as  members  of  the  body  ofChrist ; 
but  again,  they  conceive  of  us  as  in  Christ,  members  of  Christ's  body,  by  Bap- 
tism, and  by  that  only.  "  Seest  thou,"  says  St.  Jerome,  "  that  our  being  taken 
into  the  participation  of  His  substance,  is  not  of  nature  but  of  grace  ;  and  He 
therefore  loves  us,  because  the  Father  loved  the  Son ;  and  the  members  are 
loved,  namely  in  the  body.  '  For  as  many  as  received  Him,'  &c.  The  Word 
was  made  flesh,  that  we  from  the  flesh  might  pass  into  the  Word."  And  so 
St.  Augustine  at  length.  The  connection  with  the  following  words  he  thus 
points  out ;  "  So  when  he  had  said  '  born  of  God,'  lest  we  should  marvel, 
and  shrink  from  favor  so  great,  so  that  it  should  seem  incredible  to  us,  that  men 
are  '  born  of  God,'  as  if  to  reassure  them,  he  adds,  '  and  the  Word  was  made 
flesh.'  Why  then  marvellest  thou,  that  men  are  born  of  God  1  Hearken,  that 
God  Himself  was  born  of  men.  '  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh.'  "  St.  Iren- 
(Bus  (v.  18.  2.)  connects  it  with  the  Incarnation,  (as  St.  Aug.  above,  and  St. 
Chrys.)  and  so  likewise  Origen  (Fragm.  in  Joann.  Opp-  t.  iv.  p.  99.)  and  St. 
Hilary,  de  Trin.  1.  i.  c.  10.  Origen  again  (de  Orat.  ^  22.)  and  Euselius  speak 
of  it,  as  something  distinct  from  Jewish  privileges. 

*  De  Incarnat.  et  cont.  Arian.  t.  i.  p.  880,  he  quotes  the  text  also,  after  the 
manner  of  Leo,  ib.  ^  8.  p.  876,  and(in  connection  with  the  Incarnation)  Orat.  i. 
c.  Arian.  ^  43.  p.  447.  Orat.  ii.  ^  59.  p.  527.  "  These  are  they,  who,  having 
received  the  Word,  received  power  to  become  the  children  of  God ;  for  no 
otherwise  could  they,  being  by  nature  creatures,  become  sons,  unless  by  re- 


47 

Spirit  were  born  of  God  ;  and  as  nnany  as  were  baptized  into  Christ, 
were  baptized  into  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit."  The  very  ar- 
gument imphes  the  complete  identification  of  the  two  passages,  (St. 
John  i.  13.  iii.  5.);  for  in  the  one  Christians  are  said  to  be  born  in 
Baptism  "  of  the  Spirit,"  in  the  other  "  of  God;"  therefore,  St.Atha- 
nasius  argues,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God.*  Not  only  also  are  St.  John's 
words  so  interpreted  by  the  several  Fathers  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Church  ;  they  are  (as  was  stated)!  read  as  the  Gospel  in  the  several 
branches  of  the  Latin  Church,  and  incorporated  into  the  exposition 
of  the  Creed  in  a  very  ancient  Baptismal  Liturgy. J 

"  Ye,  then,  dearly  beloved,  are  to  be  re-created  from  the  old  into 
the  new  man  ;  and  for  carnal  begin  to  be  spiritual,  for  earthly  to  be 
heavenly  ;  believe  with  a  firm  and  unshaken  faith  that  the  resurrec- 
tion which  took  place  in  Christ,  shall  be  fulfilled  in  all  of  us  ;  and 
that  what  went  before  in  the  Head,  shall  follow  in  the  whole  body. 
Inasmuch  as  this  very  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  which  you  are  about 
to  receive,  furnishes  an  emblem  of  this  hope.  For  there  a  soit  of 
death  and  resurrection  are  enacted.  The  old  man  is  laid  aside,  the 
new  taken.  He  entereth  a  sinner,  he  ariseth  justified  ;  he  who  drag 
ged  us  to  death  is  cast  aside  ;  He  received,  who  brought  us  back  to 
life  ;  through  whose  free  grace  it  is  granted  you,  that  ye  should  be 
sons  of  God,  not  born  by  the  will  of  the  flesh,  but  begotten  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  Such  was  the  exposition  of  the  ancient 
Church  ;  the  difference  is,  radical,  essential ;  it  relates  not  to  the  ex- 
position of  a  text,  but  to  the  insight,  the  depth;  the  harmony  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  greatness  of  what  God  has  wrought,  the  unutterableness  of 
His  condescension.  They  formed  no  system,  and  so  received  every 
thing  as  it  fell  into  that  which  God  had  ordained  ;  moderns  have 
formed  theirs  ;  yet  will  even  they  venture  to  think  that  they  have  not 
lost  as  to  all  these  things  ?  "''?tS 

Our  blessed  Saviour's  words  declare  the  greatness  of  the  mystery 
in  itself.  He  who  never  ceased  to  be  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father  an- 
nounces the  exceeding  and  hidden  mystery  of  our  actual  birth  of  God  : 
the  disciple  who  lay  in  His  bosom  inculcates  and  draws  out  to  us  the 
yet  "  dark  saying."  Our  Lord,  who  is  Love  Eternal,  takes  on  Him 
(what  even  after  he  has  declared  it,  we  still  shrink  from  echoing, 
otherwise  than  as  He  has  said  it)  the  absolute  necessity  of  regenera- 
tion, for  the  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  our  state  of  grace 
and  glory,  in  which  we  live  in  His  Church,  and  in  which  we  hope 
to  live  with  Him  for  ever ;  and  that  this  regeneration  is  the  being 

ceiving  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  is  by  nature  and  indeed  The  Son."  Add  Grat. 
iii.  ^  19.  p.  569. 

*  The  sort  of  argument  is  the  same  as  we  are  wont  to  use  from  Acts  v.  3, 
which  follows  here  in  St.  Athanasius. 

I  See  above,  p.  33.  n.  |. 

i  Sacrameutary  of  Gelasius,  from  MS.  of  the  seventh  century.  (Ass.  ii.  13. 


48 

"  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  or  by  God's  Spirit  again  moving  on 
the  face  of  the  waters,  and  sanctifying  them  for  our  cleansing,  and 
cleansing  us  thereby.  He  who  died  for  us,*  took  upon  Him  to  scare 
us,  or  our  parents  for  our  sakes,  to  seek  refuge  in  the  ark,  by  the 
words,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God  :"  His  disciple,  St.  Paul,  had  only  to  dwell  on 
the  greatness  of  the  love  herein  displayed,  the  unmeritedness  and 
irrespectiveness  of  our  calling  and  election  to  this  grace  of  Baptism 
and  privilege  of  sonship.  "  But  when  the  kindness  and  love  of  God 
our  Saviour  toward  man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  righteousness, 
which  we  had  done,  but  according  to  His  mercy.  He  saved  us,  by  the 
washing  of  regeneration,  and  of  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  he  shed  on  us  abundantly,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Sav- 
iourt."  Our  Lord,  Himself  the  First  Cause,  declares  the  cause  of 
our  regeneration,  "water  and  the  Spirit ;"  the  servant,  (who  of  God's 
free  mercy  had  been  called,  and  experienced  the  transcendantness  of 
the  change  thereby  wrought,  from  the  persecutor  to  the  persecuted, 
from  the  wolf  to  the  lamb)  speaks  of  it  chiefly  in  its  effects,  the  re- 
newal of  that,  which  by  man's  disobedience  was  decayed.  In  this 
language,  also,  as  a  comment  on  that  of  our  Lord,  we  should  observe 
how  closely  the  gift  is  connected  with  the  Sacrament ;  as  our  Lord 
speaks  of  "being  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  so,  here.  His  Apos- 
tle, of  the  "washing  of  regeneration  ;" — not,  (as  a  modern  school|  has 
paraphrased  it,)  "regeneration,  which  is  05  a  bath,"  or  "baptism, 
which  attests,  ox  signifies  regeneration,"  or  "is  a  seal  of  regenera- 
tion before  given,"  or  in  whatever  other  way  men  have  tortured  the 
plain  words  of  Holy  Scripture,  but  "the  luashing  of  regeneration, 
and  of  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  i.  e.  a  Baptizing,  accompa- 
nied by,  or  conveying  a  re-production,  a  second  birth,  a  restoration  of 
our  decayed  nature,  by  the  new  and  fresh  life,  im^parted  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  As,  before,  our  Blessed  Saviour  had  respect  unto  the  con- 
trary tendencies  of  our  nature,  the  neglect,  as  well  as  the  bare  acqui- 
escence in  the  outward  ordinance  ;  so  here,  also,  the  Apostle  has 
been  directed  both  to  limit  the  imparting  of  the  inward  grace  by  the 
mention  of  the  outward  washing,  and  to  raise  our  conceptions  of  the 
greatness  of  this  second  birth,  by  the  addition  of  the  spiritual  grace. 
The  gift,  moreover,  is  the  gift  of  God  in  and  by  Baptism  ;  every 
thing  but  God's  free  mercy  is  excluded — "not  by  works  of  righteous- 
ness which  we  have  done" — they  only  who  believe  will  come  to  the 
washing  of  regeneration  ;  yet  not  belief  alone,  but  "God,  according 

*  This  contrast  was  suggested  by  a  like  distinction  in  the  Lyra  Apostolica, 
number  Ixxxii.  which  ends — 

The  Fount  of  Love  His  servants  sends  to  tell 
Love's  deeds ;  Himself  reveals  the  sinner's  hell. 

t  Tit.  iii.  5.  t  See  Note  P.  at  the  end. 


49 

to  His  mercy,  saves  them  by  the  washing  of  regeneration ;"  by  faith 
are  we  saved,  not  by  works  ;  and  by  baptism  we  are  saved,  not  by 
faith  only ;  for  so  God  hath  said;  not  the  necessity  of  preparation, 
but  its  efficiency  in  itself  is  excluded ;  baptism  comes  neither  as 
"  grace  of  congruity,"  nor  as  an  outward  seal  of  benefits  before  con- 
veyed ;  we  are  saved  neither  by  faith  only,  nor  by  Baptism  only  ;  but 
faith  bringing  us  to  Baptism,  and  "by  Baptism  God  saves  us."  They 
are  the  words  of  God  himself.  As  our  Lord  said  negatively,  that 
without  the  birth  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  or  Baptism,  man  "  could 
not  see  the  kingdom  of  God,"  so  St.  Paul,  that  "by  it  we  are  saved  ;" 
saved  out  of  the  world,  and  brought  into  the  ark,  if  we  but  abide 
there,  and  become  not  reprobates.  Lastly,  as  our  Lord  had  placed 
"  the  birth  of  water  and  the  Spirit"  at  the  threshhold  oi  His  kingdom, 
without  which  men  could  neither  enter  in  nor  see  it :  so  Saint  Paul 
speaks  of  the  manifestation  of  the  love  of  God  therein,  as  distinct 
from  and  higher  than  all  other,  as  what  men  had  waited  for,  longed 
for, — and  at  last  it  dawned  ;  "but  when  the  kindness  and  love  of  God 
our  Saviour  toward  man  appeared"  [c.m(pavin)^  shone,  arose  upon 
him.*  The  privileges,  then,  of  Baptism,  the  new  birth,  and  renewal 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  therein  imparted,  are  something  different  in  kind, 
from  what  had  been  before  made  known  ;  they  were  part  of  the  hid- 
den mystery,  which  in  times  past  was  not  made  known,  but  now  at 
length  God's  goodness  therein  "  shone  upon  us ;"  accordingly,  it 
must,  on  this  ground,  be  something,  which  conversion,  or  change  of 
heart,  such  as  were  known  under  the  old  dispensation,  could  not  ex- 
haust ;  and  the  relation  of  Israel,  as  the  child  of  God,  could  but 
shadow  forth,  not  reahze,  the  privilege  of  our  sonship.  "  Butt  per- 
haps one  will  ask,  wherein  consists  the  eminence  of  believers  in 
Christ  above  Israel,  since  he  too  is  said  to  have  been  born  of  God,  as 
is  said,  '  I  have  begotten  and  brought  up  children,  and  they  have  de- 
spised ME.'  (Is.  i.)  To  this  must  be  answered,  I  think,t  that  the 
law  had  a  shadow  of  the  good  things  which  were  to  come,  not  the 

*  I  observe  that  Cassian  makes  the  like  remarks  ;  (de  Incarn.  Christi,  L.  2. 
c.  2.)  "When  he  says  'appeared,'  he  expresses  the  dawn  of  this  new  grace 
and  nativity;  for  the  gifts  of  this  new  grace  thenceforward  began  to  'appear,' 
when  God  '  appeared'  born  in  the  world.  So,  then,  by  the  very  correspondence 
of  the  term  he  pointed  out,  as  it  were,  this  'dawning'  of  a  new  grace.  For 
that  is  most  properly  said  to  have  '  appeared,'  which  suddenly,  as  by  a  sort  of 
apparition,  flashes  upon  us.  As,  in  the  Gospels  we  read  that  the  star  'appear- 
ed' to  the  Eastern  Magi,  and  in  Exodus  'the  angel  appeared  to  Moses  in  the 
flame  in  the  bush.'  In  all  these,  and  other  sacred  visions.  Scripture  thought 
right  especially  to  use  this  word,  speaking  of  those  things  as  having  '  appear- 
ed,' which  shone  with  unwonted  brightness.  So  then  the  Apostle  also,  know- 
ing the  coming  of  the  heavenly  grace,  which  appeared  at  the  dawn  of  the  Holy 
Nativity,  expressed  it  by  the  term  of  'bright  apparition  ;'  using,  namely,  the 
term  '  appeared,'  of  that  which  beamed  with  the  glory  of  a  new  light." 

t  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandr.  ad.  loc. 


50 

very  image  of  the  things  ;  neither  then  did  He  give  this  to  Israel  in 
real  and  full  possession,  but  sketched  in  them,  as  in  an  image  and 
figure,  'until  the  time  of  restoration,'  as  is  written  (Heb..  ix.), 
when  there  should  be  a  visible  display  of  such  as  should  in  a  truer 
and  more  corresponding 'sense  call  God  Father,  on  account  of  the 
Spirit  of  the  Only-Begotten  dwelling  in  them.  For  Israel  'had  the 
spirit  of  bondage  to  fear,  but  these  the  spirit  of  adoption  to  freedom, 
whereb}'-  we  cry  Abba  Father.'  Wherefore  the  people,  which  was 
through  faith  in  Christ  to  be  advanced  to  adoption,  was  described,  as 
in  outhne,  by  that  former  people,  much  as  we  see  our  spiritual  cir- 
cumcision [Baptism]  imaged  by  that  in  their  flesh  ;  and,  in  a  word, 
all  we  have  was  shadowed  out  in  them.  Moreover,  we  say  that 
Israel  was  called  to  adoption,  as  in  an  image,  by  a  mediator  Moses, 
wherefore  they  were  baptized  unto  him,  as  St.  Paul  saith,  in  the  cloud 
and  in  the  sea." 

St.  Chrysostom  well  gives  the  context  of  the  whole  passage,  and 
brings  out  the  greatness  of  the  mystery  therein  declared,  and  the  ap- 
plication of  the  context  to  such  of  us  as,  having  been  made  Christians 
from  the  eighth  day,  have  persevered.  "  Reproach  no  one,"  he  says, 
"  for  thou  wast  such  an  one  thyself."  " '  For  we  likewise,'  he  says, 
'  were  sometimes  disobedient,'  &c.  Let  no  one  boast,  for  all  have 
sinned.  For  if  from  thy  earliest  youth  thou  hast  lived  virtuously, 
yet  must  thou  have  many  sins  ;  but  if  thou  hast  not,  as  thou  think- 
est,  consider  that  this  was  not  the  result  of  thy  excellence,  but  of  the 
grace  of  God.  For  had  he  not  called  thy  forefathers,  thou  also  hadst 
been  an  unbeliever.  Observe  how  he  enumerates  every  sort  of 
wickedness.  Did  not  God  order  innumerable  ways  for  us  by  the 
prophets ;  did  we  obey  ? — '  For  we,'  he  says,  '  were  sometimes  de- 
ceived.' '  But  when  the  love  and  kindness  of  God  our  Saviour  to- 
ward man  appeared.'  How  ?  '  not  from  works  of  righteousness  which 
we  had  done,  &c.,  but — by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewal 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Oh  !  how  were  we  plunged  in  wickedness,  so 
that  we  could  not  be  cleansed,  but  required  to  be  born  again ;  for 
such  is  regeneration.  For  as  when  a  house  is  decayed,  no  one  under- 
props it,  nor  binds  together  the  old  ruins,  but  taking  it  down  to  the 
foundation,  raises  it  up  again,  and  restores  it  from  the  very  beginning, 
so  did  He  ;  He  raised  us  not  up  on  what  we  were  :  but  he  razed  us 
to  the  ground.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  *  renewal  of  the  Holy 
Ghost :'  He  made  us  new  from  the  very  core  :  how  ?  '  through  the 
Spirit.'  And  again  pointing  out,  in  another  way,  our  great  need,  he 
says,  '  which  He  shed  on  us  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour  :'  so  much  mercy  did  we  need,  '  that  having  been  justified  by 
His  grace' — again,  'grace,'  not  'debt,' — 'we  might  be  heirs,  according 
to  hope,  of  eternal  life.'  Here  is  both  an  exhortation  to  humility,  and 
hope  for  the  future.     For  if  when  our  case  was  so  desperate,  that  we 


51 

must  be  wholly  born  again,  be  saved  by  gi-ace,  had  no  good  in  us,  He 
saved  us,  much  more  will  He  do  this  in  the  time  to  come." 

One  is  almost  ashamed  to  go  about  to  prove  that  a  text  so  plain 
applies  to  baptism,  or  that  the  Holy  Church  Universal  always  so 
held  it.  The  proof  which  one  person  can  bring,  can  be  but  a  sam- 
ple of  what  remains  behind.  The  proof  is  the  same  in  kind  as  be- 
fore ;  and  may  be  useful  to  those  who,  (because  they  have  never 
examined,)  doubt  even  whether  there  be  such  a  thing  as  Catholic 
consent  and  agreeing  interpretation  in  Christian  antiquity.  First, 
then,  no  passage  from  any  Father  can,  or  has  been  pretended  to  be 
adduced,  which  should  imply  any  other  explanation ;  next,  there  is 
the  large  body  of  Fathers*  from  every  Church,  who  do  interpret  the 
text  as  a  matter  of  course,  of  baptism  ;  thirdly,  all  the  Liturgies,  in 
all  the  different  ways  in  which  it  is  possible  to  apply  it. 

Some  of  them  again  recitef  this  Scripture  in  their  service  ;  or  they 
use  its  language  in  the  consecration^  of  the  baptismal  font ;  or  in 

*  In  Note  B,  are  quoted  Origen,  S.  Cyprian,  S.  Basil,  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa, 
S.  Ambrose,  S.  Jerome,  S.  Augustine,  S.  Chrysostome,  and  Theodoret ;  and 
even  Pelagius  admits  the  same  ;  add  to  these  Justin  M«rtyr  (Apol.  i.  ^  61.) 
<S.  Irenaus  (v.  15  3.),  -S.  Theophilus  (ad  Autol.  L.  ii.  ^  16.)  S.  Athanasius 
(de  Sabb.  et  Circumcis.  ^  5.),  St.  Cyril  of  Jems.  (Cat.  xviii.  35.),  S.  Epipha- 
mw*  (Haer.  i.  4.),  The  Apostolical  Constitutions,  (L.  8.  c.  6.)  S.  Gregory  of 
Naziamzum  {de  Baptismo.) 


X  Latin,  Gelasius  (ii.  3.),  Gellon  (53),Chelle  (62),  Colbertin  (65),Moisac  (68) 

Apamea  (75). 

"  Be  it  a  living,  regenerating  fountain  of  water,  a  purifying  stream,  that  all 
who  are  to  be  washed  in  this  health-giving  stream,  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  them,  may  obtain  a  free  grant  of  perfect  cleansing." 

Gothic  and  Gallican- 

"Pray  we  our  Lord  and  God  to  sanctify  this  fountain,  and  to  make  iturUo 
all  who  descend  therein,  a  laver  of  most  blessed  regeneration  for  the  remission 
of  all  sins,  through  the  Lord,  &c."  (ii.  34.) 

"  Give  place  (O  army  of  Satan)  to  the  Holy  Spirit ;  that  to  all  who  descend 
into  this  fountain,  it  may  be  a  laver  of  the  Baptism  of  regeneration  in  the  re- 
mission of  all  sins."  (ib.  35.) 

Alexandrian,  Coptic^  and  JEthiopic. 

"  Sanctify  this  water  and  this  oil,  that  they  may  be  a  bath  of  regeneration 
(Amen)  to  eternal  life  (Amen),  for  a  clothing  of  immortality  (Amen),  for  the 
adoption  of  sons  (Amen),  for  the  renovation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Amen),  &c. 
(ib  ii.  165.)  Grant  to  it  power  to  become  life-giving  water  (Amen),  sanctify- 
ing water  (Amen),  water  cleansing  sin  (Amen),  water  of  the  bath  of  regenera- 
tion (Amen),  water  of  tjje  adoption  of  sons  (Amen)  &c."  (ib.  173.) 


52 

their  prayers  for  those  about*  to  be  admitted  to  Holy  Baptism,  or 
aftert  the  Baptism  has  been  completed. 

Greek. 

*'  But  Thou,  Lord  of  all,  make  this  a  water  of  redemption,  water  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  purifying  of  flesh  and  spirit,  loosing  of  bonds,  remission  of  sins,  en- 
lightening of  souls,  bath  of  regeneration,  renovation  by  the  Spirit,  gift  of  adop- 
tion, clothing  of  immortality,  fountain  of  life,  &c."  (ib.  p.  138.) 

Ancient  Antiochian,  Jerusalem  (bis)  Apostolic,  by  Severus,from  Greek. 

"  But  Thou,  Lord  of  all,  make  these  waters  waters  of  comfort,  waters  of  joy 
and  gladness,  waters  betokened  in  the  death  and  resurrection  of  thy  Only  Be- 
gotten Son,  waters  of  redemption,  purifying  of  defilements  of  flesh  and  spirit, 
loosing  of  bonds,  remission  of  sins,  enlightening  of  souls,  bath  of  regeneration, 
gift  of  adoption,  clothing  of  immortality,  renovation  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  waters 
cleansing  every  stain  of  soul  and  body,  &c."  [ib.  ii.  pp.  220 — 231 — 259 — 291.] 

Revised  Syriac,  Apostolic  from  Greek  [ih.  233 — 259]. 

''The  waters  are  sanctified  to  be  a  divine  '  bath  of  regeneration,' in  the 
name  of  the  Living  Father  to  life  [Amen[,  in  the  name  of  the  Living  Son  to  life 
[Amen],  in  the  name  of  the  Living  and  Holy  Spirit  to  life  for  ever  and  ever 
[Amen]." 

*  Latin,  Gothic,  and  Old  Gallican' 

On  making  a  Catechumen  [ib.  i.  29.] 

"  Grant  him  Thy  mercy  and  loving-kindness  through  the  '  washing  of  regen- 
eration ;'  bring  him  to  the  spiritual  grace  ;  that,  together  with  us,  he  may  re- 
turn praise  and  thanksgiving  to  thee.  Lord  God  Father  Almighty  ;  lead  him 
into  the  way  of  truth ;  teach  him  Thy  righteousness,  through  our  Lord,  &c." 

"Mighty  is  our  God  ;  and  may  he  bring  to  the  '  bath  of  the  water  of  regene- 
ration' you  who  are  fleeing  to  the  faith  ;  and  us  also,  who  deliver  to  you  the 
mystery  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  may  He  bring  with  you  to  the  heavenly  king- 
doms, through  the  gift  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  honor  and  do- 
minion for  ever  and  ever.     Amen."  [Ib.  i,  36.) 

Gallican,  [ib.  39.] 
"  O  God,  to  whom  flee  thirsty  souls,  longing  for  the  draught  of  immortality  ; 


t  Western.     Old  Gallican  [ii.  42.] 

"God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  regenerated  thee  by 
water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  who  hath  given  thee  remission  of  sins  by  the 
'washing  of  regeneration'  and  (His)  blood."  «&;c.  [The  Sacramentary  of 
Gelasius  omits  the  words  "  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  ;"  and  of  the  other 
Latin  rituals,  it  is  not  generally  expressed  whether  they  used  the  longer  or  the 
shorter  form] 

Coptic,  &c.  [ii.  182.] 

"  Thou,  Thyself,  our  Lord,  by  the  grace  of  thy  Christ,  and  by  the  de- 
scent of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  hast  consecrated  this  water,  whence  it  has  been  made 
to  Thy  servant  baptized  therein  a  '  washing  of  regeneration,  and  a  renewal' 
after  his  ancient  error,  whereby  he  has  been  enlightened  by  the  light  of  Thy 
Divinity,"  &c. 


53 

They  carry  their  own  evidence,  and  they  are  evidence  for  the 
whole  Christian  Churcli,  and  this  evidence  becomes  the  stronger  if 

grant  to  these,  Thy  suppliant  servants,  to  find  the  gift  which  they  long  for  ;  to 
obtain  the  grace  which  they  claim  ;"  let  them  enter  '  the  fountain,  the  source 
of  regeneration  ;'  there  to  lay  aside  that  death-bringing  offence  of  our  first  pa- 
rent, the  frailness  of  perishing  flesh  being  changed  into  a  new  man.  Through 
the  Lord,  &c." 

Ambrosian,  [ib.  45.] 

"0  God,  to  dedicate  to  whom  no  littleness  unfits,  who  graciously  admittest 
every  age,  and  every  sex  to  the  worship  of  Thy  Majesty,  to  Thee  we  dedicate 
these  beginnings  of  a  new  man, and  rudiments  of  infant  life  :  grant  that  the  sign 
of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Thy  Only-Begotten,  inscribed  upon  this  little  one,  may 
protect  him,  as  yet  ignorant  of  ill  :  Thine  may  he  be  ;  to  Thee  may  he  grow 
up;  Thee  may  he  fear;  Tlieelove;  Thee  his  Creator  ever  acknowledge  ;  and, 
brought  by  Thee,  arrive  at  the  holy  'washing  of  regeneration.'  Through  the 
same  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  liveth,"  &c. 

Alexandrian,  Coptic,  JEthiopic. 

"  Search  the  lurking  recesses  of  their  hearts  Thou  who  '  searchest  Jerusa- 
lem with  lanterns'  [Zeph.  i.  12]  and  permit  not  the  malignant  spirit  to  lurk  in 
them  ;  but  grant  them  purity  and  health,  grant  them  eternal  salvation,  regener- 
ate them  with  the  'washing  of  regeneration'  and  of  remission  of  sins  ;  make 
them  a  temple  for  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  through  Thy  Only  Begotten  Son,  our  Lord, 
God,  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  through  whom,"  &c.  [ib.  153,  154] 

"  Dispose  his  soul  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  he  may  be  accounted 
worthy  to  obtain  the  'washing  of  regeneration,'  and  the  clothing  of  immortality, 
and  the  remission  of  his  sins,"  &c.  [ib.  162,  I63-] 

Armenian.     [After  the  25th,  26th,  and  51st  Psalms.] 

"  Pray  we  also  the  most  merciful  God  for  this  Catechumen,  that,  according 
to  His  great  mercy,  He  would  have  compassion  upon  him,  and  vouchsafe  to 
him  the  divine  '  washing  of  regeneration,'  and  the  garment  of  immortality  ;  and 
number  him  with  the  faithful,  called  after  His  name,  and  save  him  by  His  free 
mercy."  [pp.  169,  170.] 

"  Fill  him  with  heavenly  grace,  and  gladden  him  with  thy  most  excel- 
lent name  ;  that  he  may  be  called  a  Christian,  and  at  the  fitting  season  be  ac- 
counted worthy  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Baptism  of  regeneration* 
May  he  become  of  the  body,  and  a  member  of  Thy  Holy  Church,"  &c. 
[pp.  171,  172.] 

Greek. 

"  In  the  peace  of  God  pray  we, — for  him,  who  is  now  coming  to  the  holy 
Knlightening,  and  for  his  salvation  :  that  he  may  be  made  a  child  of  light,  and 
heir  of  all  good  things  ;  that  he  may  be  planted  with,  and  be  a  partaker  of  the 
death  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ  our  God  ;  that  the  robe  of  Baptism,  and 
the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,  may  be  preserved  to  him  throughout,  unstained  and 
undefiled  in  the  terrible  day  of  Christ  our  God  ;  that  this  water  may  be  to  him 
a  '  washing  of  regeneration' to  the  remission  of  sins,  and  a  garment  ofimmor- 
tahty."  [ib.  ii.  130—133.] 

SyriaC'     Apostolic  by  James  of  Edessa. 
'*  0  Christ  our  God,  make  this  child  Thy  servant  meet  for  the  gift  of  the 


64 

we  remark,  that  (as  before)  they  relate  only  to  one  single  text ;  not 
all  the  passages  in  the  Liturgies,  which  bore  upon  the  doctrine,  nor 
even  all  which  bore  upon  the  text,  have  been  admitted  ;  bat  those 
only  which  directly  quote  and  apply  it ;  and  from  these  some  notion 
may  be  formed .  of  the  full  extent  of  the  whole  evidence.  2ndly, 
The  mode  in  which  the  several  liturgies  employ  the  text,  evinces 
their  independence  of  each  other  ;  e.  g.  some  only,  use  it  as  a  les- 
son ;  some  only,  after  Baptism  ;  and  this  renders  the  agreement  the 
more  conspicuous,  in  that  all  employ  it,  in  the  consecration  of  the 
water  of  Baptism,  and  (as  in  our  own)  in  the  prayer  for  those  about 
to  be  baptized.  Even  this,  however,  is  but  a  broad  correspondence  ; 
the  detail  implies  the  existence  of  distinct  models  embodying  the 
same  principle  :  the  Eastern  and  Western  are  manifestly  distinct; 
and  even  amid  the  mutual  corres|)ondence  of  the  Eastern  Churches 
in  the  accumulation  of  the  titles  of  Baptism  there  is  no  identity.  It 
is  the  free  following  out  of  a  pattern  which  had  been  given,  iaiplying 
at  once  the  original  correspondence  of  the  pattern,  and  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  execution.  The  antiquity  of  these  titles  is  implied  and 
illustrated  by  the  like  accumulations  in  the  several  fathers,  especially 
of  the  Greek  Church*.  This  evidence  meets  a  lonmnff  which  has 
been  felt ;  "  how  are  we  to  know  that  the  fathers,  now  extant,  rep- 
resent the  doctrines  of  their  several  Churches,  and  so  the  voice 
of  the  whole  Chnrch?"  This  might  be  met  in  another  way,  viz.  ; 
that  as  soon  as  lists  of  authorities  began  to  be  made,  the  same  fa- 
thers whose  works  we  now  possess  f  were  appealed  to,  as  chief 
witnesses.  But,  over  and  above,  we  have  their  testimony  confirmed 
in  another  way  ;  these  Liturgies  were  not  taken  out  of  their  wri- 
tings, not  composed  by  them,  prior  in  their  component  parts  to  most 
of  them,  and  yet  they  contain  precisely  the  same  doctrine,  and  do 

'  bath  of  regeneration,'  and  prepare  him  for  good  and  pure  works  at  all  times." 
&c.  [i.  258,  by  Severus,  ii.  288.] 

"  The  good  Shepherd,  who  came  forth  to  seek  the  lost  sheep,  [which  through 
the  craft  of  the  rebellious  serpent  had  lost  its  place  among  things  endued  with 
reason,]  and  lighted  a  candle,  His  Holy  Flesh,  and  swept  the  house  of  this 
world  from  sin,  and  found  the  lost  coin,  the  royal  image,  encrusted  with  pas- 
sions, and  rusted  through  sin,  and  purged  it  and  cleansed  it  in  the  furnace  of 
Holy  Baptism  and  in  the  '  washing  of  regeneration,'  and  imparted  to  it  the 
beauty  of  its  first  creation.  Now  also,  O  God,  for  Thy  goodness  and  themani- 
foldness  of  Thy  tender  mercy,  free  and  redeem  all  our  souls  from  all  filth  and 
rust  of  sin,"  &c.  [Hymn,  ib.  273,  274.] 

Revised  Liturgy. 

"  preparing  them  for  the  reception  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  that  they  may 

be  made  meet  for  the  'washing  of  regeneration.'"  [i.  232.] 

*  See  below,  ch.  8.  Extracts  from  the  Fathers. 

t  As  has  been  noticed  to  me  in  the  dialogues  of  Theodoret ;  so  also  in  the 
Pelagian  controversy  in  St.  Augustine. 


55 

not  teach  but  imply  it,  as  the  only  doctrine  known  to  the  Church, 
and  in  that  most  solemn  way,  prayer  to  Almighty  God.  We  should, 
take  a  man's  prayers  as  evidence  of  his  faith  ;  we  appeal  to  our  own 
Liturgy  as  embodying  that  of  our  Church  ;  why  not  then  to  the  Lit- 
urgies of  the  Universal  Church  for  the  faith  of  the  "Holy  Church 
Universal  throughout  the  world  ?"  Thus,  then,  we  have  two  dis- 
tinct bodies  of  evidence,  both  solidly  establishing  the  same  result, 
and  each  confirming  the  other.  First,  the  works  of  the  several  Fa- 
thers, as  individual  witnesses  of  the  faith  of  their  several  Churches, 
and  so  ultimately  of  the  whole  Church  ;  and,  secondly,  in  the  Litur- 
gies, the  collective  doctrine  of  each  Church  as  a  whole.  They  will 
supply  an  answer  to  a  question  which  not  unnaturally  arises  from 
this  text,  now  that  people  undertake  to  solve  all  points  of  Scripture 
for  themselves  ;  "  do  all  the  promises  and  descriptions  of  Baptism 
apply  to  Infant  Baptism  ?"  Certainly,  unless  they  did  in  effect, 
Lifant  Baptism  were  wrong ;  for  so  we  should  be  depriving  our 
children  of  whatever  benefits  it  were  supposed  that  Adult  Baptism 
conferred,  and  Infant  Baptism  was  incapable  of.  But,  since  Infant 
Baptism  is  right,  then  must  it  confer,  in  effect  and  in  the  rudiments, 
all  the  benefits  of  Adult  Baptism,  to  be  developed  hereafter.  More- 
over, where  the  language  of  Holy  Scripture  is  unlimited,  we  are  not ' 
to  restrain  it.  But  Holy  Scripture  speaks  universally  ;  it  says,  "  the 
washing  of  regeneration  and  of  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
"  born  of  the  water  and  the  Spirit ;"  how,  then,  are  we  to  say,  that 
because  our  infants  are  not  in  like  way  decayed,  through  actual  sin, 
as  were  those  adults  to  whom  St.  Paul  wrote,  therefore  they  are  not 
regenerated  and  renewed  ?  This  would  involve  the  very  error  of 
Pelagius,  that  they  needed  no  renewal,  no  "  new  birth,"  having  no 
"  birth  sin."  Holy  Scripture  speaks  indeed  incidentally  of  some 
effects  of  "  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  of  the  renewal  of  the 
"Holy  Ghost,"  relatively  to  particular  adults  ;  since  the  greater  the 
decay,  the  greater  the  renewal  thereby  effected  :  not  the  seed  only 
of  corruption,  which,  (if  no  remedy  were  applied,)  would  surely 
spread  decay  through  the  whole  living  being,  but  the  decayed  and 
corrupted  wreck,  wherein  the  disease  had  wrought  its  full  work,  was 
thereby  made  sound.  Yet  is  the  remedy  the  same,  the  cure  the 
same,  although  in  one  the  actual  corruption  be  remedied,  in  the  other 
checked  ;  in  the  one  the  healing  antidote  is  infused,  when  the  poison 
has  spread  through  the  whole  frame,  and  through  the  whole  frame 
arrests  ;  in  the  other,  it  is  imparted,  ere  yet  the  latent  poison  has 
begun  to  work.  But  the  same  Scripture  pronounces  Baptism  abso- 
lutely to  be  "  the  w^ashing  of  regeneration  and  renewal  by  the  Holy 
Ghost;"  and  what  Scripture  calls  it,  it  must  remain,  at  all  times, 
and  however  applied,  to  infants  as  to  aduUs.  In  all,  their  Maker's 
image  was  defaced  ;  all  are  renewed  after  that  image  in  Him,  and 
by  being  in  Him,  who  is  the  brightness  of  His  Father's  glory,  and 


56 

the  express  image  of  His  Person,  God  blessed  forever.  "  He  came," 
are  the  well-known  and  weighty  words  of  St.  Irenaeus,*  "  sanctify- 
ing every  age  by  its  relation  to  Himself.  For  He  came  to  save 
all  by  Himself ;  all,  who  by  Him  are  reborn  to  God  :  infants,  and 
little  ones,  and  children,  and  youths,  and  elders.  So  He  came  in 
every  age  ;  and  to  infants  was  made  an  infant,  sanctifying  infants  ; 
among  little  children  a  little  child,  sanctifying  those  of  this  age, 
and  made  also  to  them  an  example  of  piety,  and  righteousness, 
and  subjection ;  among  young  men,  a  young  man,  becoming  an 
example  to  young  men,  and  sanctifying  them  to  the  Lord."  But 
now,  in  these  Liturgies  we  have  not  our  private  judgment  only, 
but  the  voice  of  the  Church,  applying  to  our  infants  particularly,  the 
promises,  which  God  annexes  to  Baptism,  and  which,  since  He  has 
not  restrained,  we  should  have  thought  beforehand  were  not  to  be 
limited.  The  combined  Liturgies  are  an  authoritative  because  a 
Catholic  exposition  ;  how  should  they.  East  and  West,  be  thus  com- 
bined, except  by  a  true  and  separate  tradition  ? 

These,  then,  (St.  John  iii.  5.  Tit.  iii.  4 — 6.)  are  the  only  passa- 
ges of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  which  the  first  origin  of  regeneration 
(so  to  speak)  is  marked  out,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
takes  place  are  at  all  hinted  at.  And  surely  this  ought,  to  any  care- 
ful Christian  to  be  of  great  moment ;  and,  instead  of  longing,  as  the 
habit  of  some  is,  for  more  evidence,  he  will  thank  God,  that  the  evi- 
dence is  so  clear,  that  all  Christians  of  old  times  confidently  relied 
upon  it,  and  transmitted  it  to  us. 

For  this  is  the  way  of  God's  dealing  throughout  Scripture  :  He 
gives  us,  whether  as  a  rule  of  life  or  doctrine,  certain  plain  state- 
ments ;  and  then,  in  His  other  communications,  intersperses  allu- 
sions to  these  same  truths,  not  in  themselves  perhaps  altogether 
definite,  certainly  not  satisfying  to  a  captious  or  unwilling  hearer,  but 
blending  and  harmonizing  with  those  broader  statements.  And 
when  persons  are  disposed  to  believe,  they  often  appeal  to  these  in- 
cidental allusions,  as  more  forcible  even  than  direct  statements. 
For  tlie  very  fact  of  repeatedly  introducing  one  subject,  when  we 
are  mainly  employed  in  speaking  upon  or  inculcating  others,  shows 
how  deeply  the  subject,  which  we  so  introduce,  is  impressed  upon 
our  own  minds.  And  so  also  (as  far  as  it  has  pleased  God  to  con- 
vey His  inspired  wisdom  after  the  manner  of  human  thoughts)  we 
infer,  and  rightly,  from  similar  appearances  in  Holy  Scripture,  how 
deeply  He  had  impressed  upon  the  souls  of  His  Apostles  the  truths 
which  thus,  as  it  were,  burst  forth  in  the  midst  of  other  teaching. 
Thus,  when  St.  Paul  wishelh  himself  accursed  for  his  kinsmen,  and 
enumerates  all  which  God  had  done  for  them,  and  the  marks  of  His 
love,  "  the  adoption,  and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giv- 

•  ii.  22, 24. 


57 

ing  of  the  law,  and  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promises,  and  the 
"  fathers,"  we  should  not,  amidst  this  catalogue  of  the  glories  of  the 
Old  Testament,  have  expected  beforehand,  to  find  the  Divinity  of 
our  Lord  ;  and  so  we  are  the  more  impressed  when  the  rising  list  of 
God's  loving-kindnesses  at  last  ends  m,  "  of  whom,  as  concerning 
the  flesh,  Christ  came,  who  is  over  all,  God  Blessed  forever." 
We  continue  to  be  awed,  as  often  as  we  read  it ;  for  the  feeling 
abides  or  increases,  "  how  awfully  must  he  have  thought  of  the  Di- 
vinity of  our  Lord,  who  thus  wrote."  This  and  the  like  unexpected 
references-  seem  to  us  the  more  to  indicate  what  was  the  mind  of 
God,  because  they  are  unexpected  ;  they  bring  their  own  impression 
of  Divinity,  because  they  are  not  human  ;  they  are  not  what  the 
mind  of  man  would  have  conceived.  I  mean  not  that  we  should  ar- 
gue in  this  way,  as  if  we  were  judges  of  the  matter,  for  we  are  not ; 
but  that  these  flashes,  so  to  speak,  out  of  the  cloud,  impress  us  often 
even  more  with  God's  Presence  than  the  noon-day  brightness.  Of 
course,  a  very  perverted  use  might  be  made  of  this  feeling,  if  per- 
sons were  to  look  out  for  passages  which  should  thus  strike  them,  or 
so  prefer  them  as  to  lose  out  of  sight  the  depth  of  God's  direct  teach- 
ing ;  if,  e.  g.  one  were  to  look  out  for  these  scattered  notices  of  the 
Divinity  of  our  Lord,  and  neglect  to  meditate  on  the  enunciation  of 
St.  John,  before  which  all  Christian  Antiquity  bowed,  "  in  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God."  And  this  is  rather  the  defect  of  our  age,  in 
those  doctrines  or  views  which  it  wishes  to  have  proved.  Still  this 
very  perversion  is  a  witness  to  the  inherent  feeling  of  our  nature. 
Here,  then,  so  far  from  regarding  it  as  a  diminution  to  the  evidence 
of  a  doctrine,  that  it  is  incidentally  mentioned,  we  are  even  the  more 
impressed  with  it.  And  if  others  are  not,  (as  we  know  that  the 
unhappy  persons,  who  dispute  against  our  Blessed  Lord's  Divinity, 
would,  on  that  very  account,  explain  one  text  away,  or  declare  the 
stress  laid  upon  another  to  be  fanciful,)  this  disturbs  us  not ;  they 
see  not,  because  they  have  not  eyes  to  see.  Apply  we  this  to  the 
present  case;  the  "doctrine  of  Baptism"  (Heb.  vi.  2.)  is  declared 
as  explicitly,  as  incidentally,  and  as  variously,  as  that  of  our  Blessed 
Lord's  Divmity  or  the  saving  truth  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  with  which 
its  administration  is  inseparably  blended,  the  belief  in  which  it  very 
chiefly  upholds.  For  both,  we  have  the  same  uniform  testimony  of 
the  Church  Catholic  ;  in  both  cases  alike,  those  who  have  refused 
to  listen  to  the  Church,  have  failed  to  find  the  truth  in  Holy  Scrip- 
ture ;  there  is  then  as  little  reason  to  be  moved,  that  others  do  not 
see  what  we  see,  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other  ;  and  if  any  see  not 
the  Church's  doctrine  of  Baptism  in  Scripture,  they  have  no  reason 
thence  to  conclude  that  it  is  not  there,  because  they  see  it  not.  The 
force  done  to  Scripture,  has  not  been  in  any  way  greater  in  one  case 
than  in  the  other.     They  who  say  that  "  water  and  the  Spirit"  means 


58 

"  the  Spirit  only,"  or  that  "  the  washing  of  regeneration"  means 
"  spiritual  regeneration"  independent  of  any  actual  "  washing,"  how- 
ever they  may  commiserate  the  misguided  people,  who  assail  other 
Catholic  truth,  have  nothing  assuredly  to  allege  against  them  for 
forced  interpretations  of  Holy  Scripture.  It  was  in  tiieir  own  school 
that  those  systems  of  interpretation  were  learnt. 

The  object  then  in  producing  some  other  chief  passages  of  Holy 
Scripture,  wherein  Baptism  is  mentioned  or  alluded  to,  is  not  to 
prove  any  thing  further  with  respect  to  that  Sacrament,  or  to  increase 
the  evidence  for  what  has  been  alleged  ;  for  our  Lord's  words,  when 
rightly  unfolded,  of  course  contain  all ;  and  they  who  hear  not  Him 
as  His  Church  has  from  the  first  transmitted  the  meaning  of  His 
words,  will  not  hear  his  disciples.  "  The  servant  is  not  greater  than 
his  Lord."  (St.  John,  xv.  20.)  The  object  will  be,  not  to  prove 
any  thing,  but  from  the  mode  in  which  Baptism  is  spoken  of  in  Holy 
Scripture,  to  illustrate  the  wide  difference  between  the  character  of 
mind  which  that  teaching  implies  and  would  foster,  and  that  which 
modern  notions  imply  and  reproduce.  Each  text  is  only  an  item, 
an  indication  of  a  difference  existing  between  modern  habits  of  mind 
and  Scripture-teaching.  And  this,  one  would  fain  hope,  might  startle 
some,  who,  because  they  have  never  seen  the  Catholic  system,  or 
its  bearings  upon  Scripture  developed,  at  present  oppose  it.  It 
seems  to  us  strange  how  any  errors  which  we  do  not  share  should 
prevail  about  Scriptural  doctrine.  We  marvel  how  the  Jewish  doc- 
tors could  have  reconciled  with  the  plain  letter  of  the  law,  their  per- 
mission to  a  child  to  dedicate  to  God  what  its  parent  needed  ;  we 
marvel  how  the  Romanist  can  reconcile  his  inculcation  of  image- 
worship,  with  the  same  law ;  in  either  case  men  have  thus  far 
"  made  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  their  traditions  ;"  in 
either  case,  through  traditions  not  "  delivered  to  their  fathers,"  but 
the  "  inventions  of  men  ;"  let  those  then,  who,  with  respect  to  Bap- 
tism, embrace  a  tradition,  whose  origin  is  but  as  it  were  of  yester- 
day, consider  earnestly  whether  they  may  not  be  in  a  like  case  ; 
whether  their  traditional  exposition  of  the  Gospel,  derived  from  the 
one  or  other  individual  in  these  "  latter  days,"  may  not  be  as  little 
consonant  with  the  real  meaning  of  Holy  Scripture,  as  those  by 
which  the  Pharisees  justified  their  abuse  of  the  "  Corban,"  or  the 
Romanists  their  image-worship ;  whether  they  too  may  not  be 
"  making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  their  traditions  ;" 
whether  they  may  not  "  have  left  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  to 
hew  out  broken  cisterns  which  will  hold  no  water." 

At  least,  their  conviction  of  the  contrary  is  no  more  argument  in 
their  behalf,  than  the  persuasion  of  the  Jewish  Rabbis,  the  Roman- 
ist, the  Socinian,  or  any  sectarian,  in  favor  of  their  traditions  ;  all  - 
alike  have  taken  and  handed  down  a  modern,  opposed  to  the  ancient, 
way  of  explaining  the  Word  of  God ;   and  "  they  are  their  own  wit- 


59 

nesses.  "The  ancient  system,  while  it  claims  to  be  consonant  to 
that  Word,  appeals  not  to  one  school,  but  to  the  whole  Church, 
"  from  all  times,  in  all  places,  and  in  all  its  teachers,"  as  long  as  it 
spake  one  language,  and  until  a  new  Babel  arose, 

Theie  is  yet  another  and  a  distinct  point  which  it  is  important  to 
remark.  They  who  depreciate  Baptism,  appeal  to  their  own  infer- 
ences from  passages,  in  which  Holy  Scripture  is  not  speaking  of 
Baptism  ;  e,  g.  when  St.  Paul  is  speaking  of  justification  ;  and  from 
these  they  form  a  system,  whereby  they  depreciate  Baptism.  The 
appeal  is  here  made,  on  the  contrary,  after  the  example  of  the  Fa- 
thers, to  places  where  Scripture  is  speaking  on  Baptism  :  and  this, 
surely,  will  seem  the  dirccler  way  toward  the  truth.  May  God 
guide  us  all  into  that  truth  which  He  has  promised  to  His  Apostles 
and  His  collective  Church,  and  teach  us  to  read  Holy  Scripture  as 
the  living  Word  of  the  Living  God  ! 

In  considering  then  this  part  of  the  subject, — the  impression 
which  Scripture-teaching  has  a  tendency  to  make, — I  would  again 
put  in  the  first  place  our  blessed  Saviour's  v/ords,  His  parting 
words,  the  only  direct  teaching  preserved  to  us  of  those  mysterious 
forty  days  after  his  resurrection  ;  words  on  which  our  very  commis- 
sion to  teach,  the  very  security  of  our  existence,  depends  ;  words, 
the  very  title-deeds  of  our  inheritance,  and  wherein  the  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  is  by  Him  imparted  ;  and  yet  with  these,  bound 
up  with  them  and  the  very  perpetuity  of  the  Church  and  the  privi- 
lege of  disciphng  the  nations,  is  "Baptism  in  the  Name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  so  that  thenceforth 
Baptism  is  the  embodying  of  our  creed,*  a  living  creed,  and  the  safe- 
guard against  every  heresy  as  to  the  Ever-blessed  Trinity  in  whom 
we  believe  ;t  which  whatsoever  Church  retaineth,  hath  the  promise 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  Church,  and  should  any  body  of  Christians 
reject,  they  cut  themselves  oflf  from  that  Church.  Baptism  hi  the 
Name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  that  saving  belief,  have  been  indis- 
solubly  conjoined  by  our  Lord  ;  "  what  then  God  hath  joined,  let 
not  man  put  asunder."  Yet  even  this  view,  so  familiar  and  so  sacred 
to  the  ancient  Church,  is  unfamiliar  to  us  ;  and  men  appeal  at  most 

*"He  commandeth  them  to  pour  themselves  over  the  whole  world,  giving  into 
their  hands  a  summary  of  their  teaching,  that,  namely,  through  Baptism. 
Then,  since  He  had  given  them  a  mighty  task,  lifting  up  their  thoughts.  He 
says,  '  Behold  I  am  with  you  always,  to  the  end  of  the  world,'  not  with  them 
only,  but  with  all  who  through  them  should  believe  ;  for  the  Apostles  were  not 
to  abide  always :  but  he  addresses  the  faithful  as  one  body." — St.  Chrys.  ad  loc. 
t  Hence  in  the  Roman  ritual,  our  collect  for  Trinity  Sunday,  forms  part  of 
the  Baptismal  service  ;  only  that  the  connection  of  the  latter  part  with  the  for- 
mer is  somewhat  more  visible  ;  it  there  is,  "  We  beseech  Thee,  that  by  the 
firmness  of  that  faith  we  may  ever  be  defended  from  all  adversities."  (Ass.  ii. 
21.)  The  primer  published  by  authority  under  Queen  Elizabeth  retains  the 
same  form. 


60 

to  the  words  wherein  the  doctrine  is  conveyed,  when  that  belief  was 
dehvered  over  and  sealed  to  themselves ;  as  if  they  had  for  themselves 
acquired  or  learnt  it,  instead  of  being  baptized  into  it.  And  so, 
again,  an  outward  conception  of  Baptism  leads  to  an  outward  view 
of  faith.  Even  this  might  prepare  us  to  find  in  our  Lord's  words 
more  than  the  Zuinglian  school  has  taught  men  to  find  in  them. 
They  have  more  reality.  They  convey  then,  not  simply  that  the 
minister  of  Baptism  baptizeth  not  to  himself  but  to  Christ,  that 
Christians  are  to  bear  no  other  Name  than  that  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
or  of  Christ,  "  in  wdiom  the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelt," 
and  "  was  manifested  to  us  ;"  nor,  again,  that  Christians  are  to  pro- 
fess and  to  hold  the  belief  in  the  Ever-blessed  Trinity,  to  bind 
themselves  to  obedience  to  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost — they  con- 
vey this,  but  much  more,  not  merely  what  man  must  do,  but  the 
power  w^iich  God  gives  to  do  it.  The  "  Name"  of  Almighty  God 
means  not  only  the  outward  name  by  which  we  poor  mortals  are 
empowered  to  call  Him,  but  His  attributes  and  power,  that  which 
His  Name  designates.  His  Essential  Self.  Let  any  one  but  consider 
what  varied  powers,  attributes,  what  intrinsic  majesty  and  efliciency 
is  ascribed  in  Holy  Scripture  to  the  "  Name"  of  God — not  to  His 
Name  independent  of  Himself,  but  yet  to  His  Name  as  that  wherein 
Himself  is  manifested — and  then  again,  what  reverence  is  there  said 
to  be  due  to  It,  not  simply  in  uttering  It,  but  to  It  in  Itself,  as  express- 
ing Himself.  "  The  Name  of  the  God  of  Jacob  defends  us,"  (Psa. 
XX.  L) ;  "  the  Name  of  God  is  a  strong  tower,  the  righteous  runneth 
into  it,  and  is  safe,"  (Prov.  xviii.  10.) ;  "  save  me  by  Thy  Name," 
(Psa.  liv.  L):  "  through  Thy  Name  will  we  tread  them  under," 
(Psa.  xliv.  5.);  "  for  that  Thy  Name  is  near.  Thy  wondrous  works 
declare,"  (Psa.  Ixxv.  1.);  "I  will  wait  on  Thy  Name,"  (Psa.  lii. 
9.) ;  "  keep  through  Thine  own  Name  those  whom  Thou  hast 
given  me,  (John  xvii.  11.)  The  strength  of  these  and  the  hke 
passages  is  manifestly  not  to  be  expounded  out  of  them ;  it  must 
mean  something  that  it  is  said,  "  by  Thy  Name,"  not  "  by  Thy- 
self;" "  the  Name  of  God,"  and  not  "  God"  only.  Holy  Scripture 
useth  not  to  employ  paraphrases  thus  superfluously  ;  and  modern 
criticism,  with  its  common-place  substitutions,  fosters  in  us  a  habit 
which  is  depriving  men  of  all  deeper  insight  into  the  word  of  God. 
How  much  of  the  language  of  Scripture,  which  by  its  very  unusual- 
ness  would  invite  our  thoughtfulness,  do  men  thus  accustom  them- 
selves to  disregard.  But  now,  besides  this,  God  saith  of  the  Angel, 
"  Beware  of  Him,  and  obey  His  voice  ;  provoke  Him  not ;  for  He 
will  not  pardon  your  transgressions  ;  for  My  Name  is  in  Him,^^  (Ex. 
xxiii,  21.)  "  By  what  power  or  Name  have  ye  done  this,"  are  the 
Apostles  asked.  (Actsiv.  7.)  "  If  (the  answer  is)  we  be  examined 
of  the  good  deed  done  to  the  impotent  man,  by  what  C^"  '"''")  this 
man  hath  been  saved  («vwffro(')^  be  it  known  unto  you  all,  that  by  (^O 


61' 

the  Name  of  Jesus  Clirist  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucijfied,  whom 
God  raised  from  the  dead,  by  this  i^"  rovra)  (Jqi^  ihjg  j^an  stand  be- 
fore you  whole.  Neither  is  there  salvation  (<rwrr/piu)  {fi  {h)  any  other, 
for  neither  is  there  any  other  Name  under  heaven  given  among  men, 
whereby  {iv  w)  we  must  be  saved."  (V.  9-12.)  It  is  very  striiiing  at 
the  first  superficial  glance,  how  much  is  here  attributed  to  the 
Name  of  Christ ;  how  the  bodily  cure  effected  on  this  poor  man  by 
His  Name,  was  an  emblem  of  the  spiritual,  and  how  completely 
identified  the  Name  of  our  Blessed  Lord  is  with  Himself  and  His 
power  ;  so  that  one  might,  at  first  sight,  have  thought  that  St.  Peter 
was  speaking  of  Himself,  when  he  is  declaring  the  eflficacy  of  His 
Name.  And  so  the  council  determines  to  "  threaten  them  that  they 
speak  henceforth  to  no  man  in  this  Name,  (v.  17.),  and  commands 
them  "not  to  speak  at  all  in  the  Name  of  Jesus,"  (v.  18.),  and  they 
on  their  return  pray  that  "  wonders  may  be  done  by  the  Name  of 
Jesus,"  (v.  30.)  These  things  occur  in  one  history  only  ;  but  it  is 
not  a  peculiarity  of  that  one  story.  Not  "  through  our  own  power 
and  holiness, — His  Name,  through  faith  in  His  Name,  hath  made 
this  man  strong,''''  (iii.  16.) ;  and  St.  John  wrote  his  Gospel,  "that 
believing  ye  might  have  life  in  (")  His  Name,"(c.  20.  31.)  Again, 
how  mysteriously  is  it  said,  "  He  had  a  Name  written,  that  no  man 
knew  but  He  Himself,"  (Rev.  xix.  12.) ;  "His  Name  is  called  the 
Word  of  God,"  (v.  13.)  "  He  hath  on  His  vesture  and  His  thigh  a 
Name  written,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,"  (v.  14.) ;  and 
this  Name  is  an  object  of  religious  reverence  and  worship  ;  "  God 
hath  given  Him  a  Name  which  is  above  every  Name,  that  at  the 
Name  of  Jesus  every  knew  should  bow,"  &c.  (Phil.  ii.  9.)  There 
appears  then  (to  go  no  further)  on  the  very  face  of  Scripture  lan- 
guage, a  reality  belonging  to  the  very  "  Name,"  a  power  ascribed  to 
it,  a  stress  laid  upon  it,  a  reverence  due  to  it,  which  requires  some 
corresponding  meaning.  For  this  is  only  to  say,  that  if  there  occur 
throughout  Scripture  some  peculiarity,  there  must  be  some  reason 
(whether  we  know  it  or  not,  or  in  part  only)  why  it  is  there.  Thus 
much  even  the  Jews  saw,  from  the  Old  Testament  only  ;  whence 
one*  says,  "  '  How  surpassing  is  Thy  Name'  is  all  one  with  '  How 
surpassing  art  Thou,'  for  His  Name  is  He,  and  He  is  His  Name  ;" 
and  this  saying  of  theirs  supplies  precisely  what  moderns  miss  ;  they 
will  admit  that  by  "  the  Name  of  God"  is  meant  God,  but  they  see 
not  that  "God  is,"  in  some  way  in,  and  is,  "  His  Name  ;"  that  His 
Name  is  "  excellent,"  "  to  be  feared,"  "  loved,"  "  blessed,"  "  holy," 
"  glorious,"  "  great,"  "  terrible,"  that  it  has  the  attributes  belonging 
to  Him,  that  it  is  the  object  of  the  same  affections  as  He,  that  it  has 
the  same  power  jis  He  ;  "  that  Thou  mayest/eor,"  Scripture  saith, 
^*  that  glorious  and  awful  Name,  the  Lord  thy  God,"  (Deut.  rxviii. 

*  Kimchi  on  Ps.  viii.  2. 


58.) ;  and  in  repeating  the  first  petition  of  the  prayer  our  Lord 
taught  us,  "  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name,"  we  pray,  surely,  not  merely 
that  His  Name  be  not  in  words  blasphemed,  but,  as  Bishop  Taylor* 
paraphrases  it,  "  Let  Thy  name,  Thy  essence,  and  glorious  attri- 
butes be  honored  and  adored  in  all  the  w^orld,  believed  by  faith,  loved 
by  charity,  celebrated  with  praises,  thanked  with  eucharist ;  and  let 

Thy  Name  be  hallowed  in  us,  as  it  is  in  itself.     The  name 

of  God  is  representative  of  God  Himself,  and  it  signifies,  be  Thou 
worshipped  and  adored,  be  Thou  thanked  and  celebrated  with  honor 
and  eucharist."  And  St.  Cyprian,!  in  like  way,  "After  this  we  say, 
'  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name,'  not  that  we  wish  fo7-  God,  that  He  may 
be  hallowed  by  our  prayers,  but  that  we  ask  of  Him,  that  His  Name 
may  be  hallowed  in  us — we  ask  and  pray,  that  we  who  have  been 
sanctified  in  Baptism,  may  persevere  therein,  wherein  we  have  be- 
gun to  be."  In  which  words  it  appears  how  St.  Cyprian  felt  the 
"  Name  of  God"  to  be  God  Himself ;  and  how  he  connected  the 
indwelling  of  God  and  the  hallowing  of  His  Name  within  us,  with  our 
Baptism  into  His  Name,  wherein  It  was  first  named  upon  us,  and  He 
dwelt  within  us.  Of  a  truth,  the  extreme  reverence  of  the  Jews, 
whereby  they  shrunk  from  uttering  the  incommunicable  Name,  is 
far  nearer  the  right  feeling,  than  the  careless  way  in  which  modern 
criticism  has  treated  all  these  indications  of  a  mystery  lying  con- 
cealed under  that  Name.  There  is  a  depth  therein,  which  these 
new  lines  fathom  not.  When  then  we  find  our  Lord's  direction  to 
"  baptize  all  nations  into  the  Name  (not  Names)  of  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  a  very  little  thoughtfulness,  one  should 
think,  would  lead  men  to  connect  it  with  that  Name,  which  is  "  a 
tower  of  strength,"  which  safely  defends,  wherein  we  have  life, 
wherein  we  are  safe,  "  wherewith  the  Father  keeps  those  whom  He 
hath  given  to  the  Son,  that  they  may  be  one  as  the  Father  and  the 
Son  are  one  ;" — accordingly,  that  being  "  baptized  into  the  Name" 
of  the  Three  Persons  of  the  undivided  Trinity,  is  no  mere  profession 
of  obedience,  sovereignty,  belief,  but  (if  one  may  so  speak)  a  real 
appropriation  of  the  person  baptized  to  the  Holy  Trinity,  a  transfer 
of  him  from  the  dominion  of  Satan  to  Them,  an  insertion  of  him 
within  Their  blessed  Name,  and  a  casting  the  shield  (to  speak  hu- 
manly) of  that  Almighty  Name,  over  him ;  that  Name,  at  which 
devils  tremble  and  are  cast  out  thereby,  "  into  which  a  man  runneth 
and  is  safe."  And  this  so  much  the  more,  since  Scripture  elsewhere 
attribute  the  efficacy  of  Baptism  to  His  all-prevailing  Name,  "  but 
ye  were  washed,  but  ye  were  sanctified,  but  ye  were  justified  in 
(")  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  C^")  the  Spirit  of  our  God," 
(1  Cor.  vi.  IL;)  v/here  "  the  Name  of  our  Lord  Jesus"  and  "the 

•  Life  and  Death  of  the  Holy  Jesus,  Disc.  12.  On  Prayer. 
t  De  Orat.  Domin.  c.  3. 


63 

Spirit  of  our  God"  are  mentioned,  as  in  the  like  way  the  efficacious 
causes  of  the  hohness  and  righteousness  inaparted  in  Baptism.     For 
where  His  Name  is  so  named  there  is  He.     Or,  since  "  the  devils 
were  cast  out  through  His  Name,"  (Mark  ix.  33,)  why  should  it 
appear  a  strange  or  (as  men  call  it)  a  superstitious  thing  to  believe 
that  now  also  a  power  or  virtue  has  been  annexed  to  the  Name  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity,  when  "  that  Name  is  called  upon  the  heathen,"  (Acts 
xiv.  37,)  or  on  our  children  on  whom  it  has  not  yet  been  named? 
As    says  an  ancient  writer,*  "  Whereas  this,  which  the  Lord  said, 
'  Go,  teach  all  nations,  and  baptize  them  in  the  Name  of  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,'  is  true  and  right,  and  by  all  means  to 
be  observed,  and  has  been  observed  in   the   Church ;  yet  we  must 
not  consider  that  the  invocation  of  the  Name  of  Jesus  [only,  in  those 
so  baptized  by  heretics]  is  altogether  useless,  and  that  on  account  of 
the  majesty  and   might  of  the  Name  Itself ;  in   which   Name    all 
works  of  might  (miracles)  were  wont  to  be  wrought,  and  sometimes 
some  even  by  aliens."     It  was  not  then   mere  glowing  language, 
when  the  fathers  spoke  of  the  baptized  being  "  fenced  round  by  the 
Trinity,"  or  the  like  ;  they  would  hereby  only  express   the  literal 
truth ;  and  surely,  in  that  they  press  the  force  of  "  being  baptized 
into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  as   something 
real,t  something  efficient,  an  actual  communion  with   the   Blessed 
Trinity,  they  adhere  more  to  the  analogy  of  the  faith,  and  the  usage 
of  other  Scripture,  and  the  literal  meaning  of  the  text,  than  they  who 
would  interpret  it  of  the  mere  commission  given  to  the  minister  of 
Baptism,  and  are  withal  at  a  loss  to  say  what  "  to  baptize  into  the 
Name  of"  can  literally  mean,  or  how  they  obtain  the  sense,  which 
they  vaguely  attach  to  it.     Of  this    efficiency    St.   Hilary  speaks, 
when  employing  this  text  as  the  foundation-stone  of  orthodox  doc- 
trine on  the  Trinity  ;t  "  To  those  who  believe,  that  word  of  God 
were  sufficient,  which  was  poured  into  our  ears  by  the  testimony  of 
the  Evangelist,  together  with  the  very  power  of  His  truth,  [sc.  at 
Baptism,]  when  the  Lord  saith,  '  Go  now  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  teaching  them  to  keep  all  things  whatsoever  I  command  you, 
and  lo  I  am  with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.'     For  what 
of  the  mystery  of  man's  salvation  is  not  therein  contained  ?  or  what 
is  omitted  or  left  obscure?     All  things  are  full,  as  from  Him  who  is 
Fulness,  and  perfect,  as  from  Perfection.     For  they  comprise  both 
the  significance  of  words,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  things,  and  the 
order  of  the  offices,  and  the  understanding  of  Their  Nature."     And 

*  De  llebaptismate  ap.  Cyprian,  p.  358. 

t  Hence  St.  Hilary,  in  the  prayer  quoted  below,  p.  66,  and  p.  63,  and  Jerome, 
p.  67  note,  use  the  strong  form,  baptizatus  in  Patre  et  Fillio  et  Spiritu  Sancto, 
"  baptized  in  the  F." 

X  De  Trin.  L.  ii.  init. 


64 

again,  *  "  The  following  book  in  such  wise  teaches  the  mystery  of  the 
Divine  Generation,  that  they  who  are  to  be  baptized  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  should  not  be  ignorant  of  the  truth 
of  those  names,  nor  under  the  words  confound  the  meaning  ;  but  so 
conceive  the  meaning  of  each,  as  it  is,  and  is  called ;  acknowledging 
most  fully  that  neither  is  the  Name  without  the  corresponding  truth, 
nor  is  the  truth  unexpressed  by  the  Name." 

And  in  this  way  we  may  much  more  appreciate  the  force  of  the 
argument,  which  the  Ancients,  when  vindicating  the  Catholic  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  drew  from  the  words  of  Baptism,  but  which  to 
us  has  been  much  weakened  and  obscured  ;  for  if  by  these  words 
were  only  meant  that  we  thereby  acknowledged  "  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the  co-equality  and  co-essentiality  of  ihe 
three  Divine  Persons  will  not  thence  be  so  evident,  since  in  different 
ways  we  might  believe  in  and  acknowledge  the  underived  autliority 
of  the  Creator,  and  the  derived  authority  of  a  created  ;  but  since  ihe 
words  (as  Christian  Antiquity  understood  ihem)  further  denote  the 
power  of  Those  in  whose  Name  we  are  baptized,  as  manifested  in 
that  Baptism,  then  the  argument  appears  clear,  that  in  this  work  of 
power  He  would  not  have  joined  the  Creator  with  the  created. 
"  For  neither  did  He  conjoin  (argues  St.  Athanasiusf)  an  angel  with 
the  Godhead,  nor  did  He  unite  us  with  Himself  and  the  Father  in 
one  created,  but  in  the  Holy  Spirit."  And  again,  "  They  (the  Ari- 
ans)  risk  the  very  fulness  of  the  mystery — Baptism.  For  since 
this  perfecting  is  conferred  '  into  the  Name  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son,'  but  these  acknowledge  not  the  true  Father  because  they  deny 
Him  Who  is  derived  of  Him,  and  His  con-substantiality  ;  and  deny 
again  the  true  Son,  and  feign  lo  themselves  another,  created  out  of 
things  which  were  not,  and  name  Him  ;  how  should  not  what  they 
administer  be  wholly  vain  and  profitless,  having  a  semblance  but 
nothing  real  as  an  aid  to  holiness  ;  for  the  Arians  impart  not  Bap- 
tism into  the  Father  and  the  Son,  but  into  a  Creator  and  a  creature, 
a  Maker  and  a  made.  But  as  their  '  created '  is  different  from  tlie 
Son,  so  would  that  which  they  are  thought  to  give,  be  from  the 
reality,  although  they  affect  to  name  the  Name  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son."t 

And  this  is  throughout  a  remarkable  difference  between  the  an- 
cient and  modern  way  of  viewing  this  text :  the  modern  school  sees 
only  that  three  Persons  or  Beings  are  united  therein,  and  infer  that 
they  would  not  be  so  united,  were  there  any  such  disparity  between 
them,  as  between  the  Creator  and  the  created,  or  a  mere  energy  or 
power.     To  this  it  has  been  answered,t  that  in  Holy  Scripture  other 

•L.  1.^. 

+  Ep.  1.  ad  Serapion.  c.  11.  p.  660.         %  Orat.  2.  c.  Ariann.  c.  42.  p.  510. 

X  Wolzogen.  ad  loc.  F.  Socinus  Fratr.  Polon.  t.  ii.  p.  438. 


65 

names  are  united  with  those  of  Persons  without  implying  that  what 
is  so  united  is  a  Person.  As  when  it  is  written  "  1  commend  you 
to  God  and  to  the  word  of  His  grace,"*  or  when  our  Lord  says,  "  I 
will  write  upon  him  the  name  of  my  God,  and  the  name  of  the  city 
of  my  God,  which  is  New  Jerusalem — and  My  new  Name."t  Or, 
again,  "  My  son,  fear  thou  the  Lord  and  the  King."|  But  this, 
which  would  not  be  satisfactorily  answered  by  such,  as  see  herein 
only  an  acknowledgment,  on  the  part  of  the  baptized,  and  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  has  no  weight  whatever  against  the 
argument  of  the  ancient  Church,  who  saw  that  not  only  were  there 
three  Beings  mentioned  and  acknowledged,  but  that  they  were  nam- 
ed as  co-operating  equally  in  the  same  Divine  work  of  our  re-crea- 
tion, the  imparting  to  fallen  man  the  Divine  Nature,^  and  that  this 
was  wrought  by  Them,  as  One. 

*'  Leave  off,"  says  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,||  "}^our  controversy  with 
men,  and  resist,  if  thou  canst,  the  words  of  the  Lord,  which  laid 
down  for  men  the  invocation  in  Baptism.  But  what  says  the  Lord's 
command  :  '  baptizing  them  into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?'  How  '  into  the  Name  of  the  Father  V 
because  He  is  the  Beginning  of  all  things.  How  *  into  the  Son  V 
because  He  is  the  author  of  creation.  How  '  into  the  Holy  Ghost !' 
because  he  perfecteth  all  things.  We  immerse  them  *  to  the  Father' 
that  we  may  be  sanctified ;  we  immerse  '  to  the  Son'  also  for 
this  same  end ;  we  immerse  also  '  to  the  Holy  Ghost'  that  we 
may  be  that  which  He  is  and  is  called.  There  is  no  difference  in 
the  sanctification,  as  if  the  Father  sanctified  more,  the  Son  less,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  less  than  those  two.  Why  then  dissect  the  three 
Persons  into  different  Natures,  and  make  three  Gods,  unlike  each 
other,  when  thou  hast  received  one  and  the  same  grace  from  all  ?" 
"  If,"  says  S.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,!^  "  He  be  not  adorable,  how 
does  he  deify,  (9"0  me  through  Baptism?  and  if  adorable,  how  not 
to  be  adored  ?**  And  if  to  be  adored,  how  not  God  ?  The  one  hangs 
on  to  the  other,  and  forms  a  truly  golden  and  saving  chain.  And 
from  the  Spirit,  then,  have  we  our  re-generation ;  and  from  our  re- 
generation, our  re-formation  ;  and  from  our  re-formation,  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  dignity  of  Him,  who  re-formed  us  ;"  and,  v/ould  I  prefer 
the  Son  to  the  Spirit,  as  being  the  Son,  but  Baptism  permits  me 
not,  hallowing  me  through  the  Spirit."tt  Or  St,  Hilary,  not  in  an 
appeal  to  his  flock,  but  laying  out  the  plan  of  his  work,t|  "  Nothing 
will  then  be  wanting  to  the  completion  of  the  whole  faith,  inasmuch 
as  removing  the  irreligiousnesses  of  faulty  modes  of  speaking  of  the 

*  Acts  XX.  32.  t  Rev.  iii.  12.  %  Prov,  xx.  21.  ^2  Pet.i.  4. 

II  Greg.  Nyss.  in  Bapt.  Xti.  t.  iii-  p.  372. 
t  Orat.  31.  Theol.  4.  de  Sp.  8.  ^  28.  p.  574.; 

**  £1  ii  TrpocKVvrjTdv,  iroij  oi  afKT6v ; 

tt  Orat.  40.  de  S.  Bapt.  ^3.  H  De  Trin.  1.  i.  §  36. 

vox*.  II. — 3 


66 

doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  also,  the  Apostolic  and  Evangelic  author- 
ity comprises  within  that  saving  definition  the  mystery  of  the  regen- 
erating Trinity  ;  nor  would  any  one  then  dare,  following  the  devices 
of  human  reason,  to  rank  the  Spirit  of  God  among  created  beings, 
seeing  that  we  receive  him  as  the  earnest  of  immortality,  and  for 
the  participation  of  ihe  Divine  and  incorruptible  nature."  They 
could  not  speak  coldly  and  abstractedly  of  what  they  felt  so  really ; 
they  could  not  abstract  themselves  from  their  faith,  or  the  ordinance 
of  (xod  from  the  blessings  they  had  received  in  it.  Thus  St.  Hilary 
spoke  of  "  the  regeneratmg  Trinity,"  and  St.  Irenaeus,  speaking  of 
this  same  commission,  says,*  "  And  again,  committing  to  His  disci- 
ples the  potver  of  regeneration  to  God,  He  said  to  them,  '  Go  ye 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  Name  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit.'" 

It  is  good  to  see  this  same  truth,  presented  on  different  sides,  both 
in  contrast  to  modern  formalism,  which  can  repeat  it  only  in  one 
way,  and  as  exhibiting  how  vividly  it  was  appreciated  in  those  days, 
when  it  was  looked  upon,  not  as  a  "  Baptismal  form"  only,  but  as  a 
reality,  and  as  efficacious  through  Their  might,  Whose  Name  it 
bore.  Let  any  consider  this  concluding  address  of  S.  Gregory!  to 
the  Candidates  of  Baptism,  and  if  he  would  not  spontaneously  have 
used  the  like  words,  let  him  lay  to  heart  wherein  the  difference  con- 
sists. 

"  Last  of  all,  and  above  all,  keep,  I  beseech  thee,  that  good  depo- 
sit, for  which  I  live  and  act,  and  which  may  I  take  with  me,  when 
parting  from  this  world,  wherewith  also  I  bear  all  sorrows,  despise 
all  pleasures,  the  confession  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost.  With  this  I  entrust  thee  this  day  ;  with  this  I  shall 
immerse  thee,  and  bring  thee  up  ;  this  I  give  thee  as  the  partner  and 
presider  over  thy  whole  life,  the  One  Godhead  and  Power,  existing 
in  Unity  in  the  Three,  and  comprehending  the  Three  severally  ; 
neither  unequal  in  essences,  or  natures,  nor  receiving  increase  or 
diminution,  by  excess  or  subtraction ;  every  way  equal,  the  same 
every  way,  (as  there  is  one  beauty  and  greatness  of  the  heaven)  the 
infinite  Connaturality  of  the  Three  Infinites  ;  each  contemplated  by 
Himself,  God ;  as  the  Father,  so  the  Son,  as  the  Son  so  the  Holy 
Ghost,  preserving  to  each  what  is  His  own  ;  the  Three  contemplated 
together,  God  ; — the  former  on  account  of  the  Unity  of  Essence,  the 
latter  on  account  of  the  Unity  of  Origin." 

The  very  anxiety  to  be  kept  steadfast  in  the  faith  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  thus  received  in  Baptism,  for  which  modern  schools  would 
probably,  in  practice,  substitute  a  confession  of  "justification  by 
faith,"  imphes  that  the  Ancient  Church  had  fuller  notions  of  the  re- 
quisites and  fulness  of  that  behef :  it  is  to  be  feared  that  moderns, 

♦  L.  3.  c.  19.  ed.  Grab©.  f  Orat.  40.  de  S.  Bapt-  ^  41. 


67 

who  have  disparaged  that  Ordinance,  which,  at  its  solemn  and  per- 
petual appointment,  was  made  also  the  depository  and  guardian  of 
that  Doctrine,  have  been,  unconsciously  to  themselves,  undermining 
their  own  faith,  which  they  think  that  they  retain.  Very  observable, 
then,  is  the  earnestness  of  the  prayer,*  wherewith  St.  Hilary  closes 
his  defence  of  that  Doctrine,  still,  in  connection  with  his  Baptism, 
and  the  baptismal  words,  "  keep,  I  beseech  thee,  this  holiness  of  my 
Faith  undefiled  ;  and,  unto  the  departure  of  my  spirit,  grant  me  thus 
from  my  conscience,  to  confess,  that  what  I  professed  in  the  Creed 
of  my  regeneration,  being  baptized  in  the  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit,  I  may  ever  retain,  worshipping  Thee  our  Father,  and  together 
with  Thee,  Thy  Son  ;  so  mayest  Thou  vouchsafe  to  me  Thy  Holy 
Spirit,  Who  is  of  Thee,  tlurough  Thine  Only-Begotten ;  for  He  is  a 
sufficient  guarantee  of  my  Faith,  Who  sailh,  '  Father,  all  Mine  are 
Thine,  and  Thine  are  Mine,'  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  abideth  in 
Thee  and  of  Thee,  and  with  Thee,  everlasting  God,  Who  is  blessed 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

Such  then  is  the  way  in  which  the  Ancient  Church  looked  upon 
our  Lord's  parting  commission,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  a^jd  make  disci- 
ples of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you ;  and  lo  !  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  It  is,  as  was  said,  by  vir- 
tue of  this  promise  that  we  still  exist,  and  know  that  His  Church 
will  exist  to  the  end,  for  that  He  will  be  wioh  it  to  the  end  ;  it  is  by 
virtue  of  these  words,t  (which  none  but  avowed  heretics  have  ever  ^ 
dared  to  change,)  that  we  still  venture  upon  the  discipling  of  the  na- 
tions, or  admit  little  ones  into  His  kingdom,  and  name  His  Name 
upon  them  ;  believing  that,  whether  m  the  conversion  of  the  Heathen, 
or  the  carrying  on  of  His  kingdom  among  ourselves  by  admitting 

*DeTrin.  l.xii.ult. 

t  Hence  this  commission  is  in  several  ancient  Liturgies  (as  in  our  own)  re- 
hearsed before  God  in  the  prayer  for  the  consecration  of  the  Baptismal  Font; 
as  in  the  ancient  Latin,  Gelasias,  (Ass.  ii.  p.  4,  retained  in  modern  Roman,  p. 
33,)  the  Gallican  (p.  37,)  the  Armenian  (p.  198,)  Coptic  (166.)  It  occurs  in 
an  exhortation  in  the  Malabar  Liturgy  (ib.  i.  178.)  There  is  also  an  allusion 
to  it  in  the  Gothic  (ii.  35.)  In  the  old  GalUcan  (p.  37)  there  is  also  a  prayer  for 
the  "  presence  of  the  Triure  Majesty  to  accomphsh  the  most  holy  Regenera- 
tion." Arian  Baptism  W3.i  consequently  accounted  invalid,  even  where  other 
heretical  baptism  was  ar'mitted.  "  Inasmuch  as  man,  baptized  in  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  becomes  a  temple  of  God,  where  the  ancient  temple, 
having  been  destroyed,  the  new  temple  of  the  Trinity  is  built,  how  sayest  thou, 
'  that  sins  can  be  forgiven  among  the  Arians  without  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  V  "  Jerome  a<iv.  Lucif.  §  6.  See  also  above  64.  From  this  same  be- 
lief is  derived  the  question  in  our  Office  of  Private  Baptism,  "  With  what  words 
was  this  child  baptized  V  implying  that  they  are  absolutely  essential  to  valid 
Baptism. 


68 

into  it  "  the  generations  which  shall  be  born,"  He  "  will  be  with  us 
alway."  Whereas  then  moderns,  taking  the  words  in  their  insulated 
way,  find  herein  a  direction  to  use  a  certain  formula  in  baptizing, 
and  also  a  promise  of  Christ  to  be  present  with  some  faithful  few 
who  shall  be  His  true  Church,  so  that  a  remnant  of  true  believers 
never  should  be  wanting,  the  Ancient  Church  combined  the  whole 
teaching ;  and  so  found  the  promise  that  Christ  would  ever,  indeed, 
be  present  with  His  whole  Church,  guiding,  chastening,  correcting, 
purifying  her,  leading  her  through  fire  and  water,  and  bringing  her 
out  at  length  into  a  wealthy  place  ;  but,  and  as  an  instance  of  this, 
that  He  would  be  specially  present  in  the  Sacrament  which  he  thus 
made  the  entrance  into  that  Church,  and  the  very  means  of  her  con- 
tinuance ;  that  having  bade  them  to  "disciple  all  nations,"  by  "bap- 
tizing them  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  and  added  that  He  "would  be  with  them  alway,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world,"  He  would  be  with  them  when  so  obeying  His 
word,  and  be  present  with  them,  when  baptizing  in  His  Name. 
"  Believe,"  bays  S.  Ambrose,*  "  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  invoked  by  the 
prayers  of  the  priests,  is  there.  Who  saith,  '  where  two  or  three 
shall  be,  there  am  I  also  ;'  how  much  more  where  the  Church  is, 
where  His  own  mysteries  are,  doth  he  deign  to  impart  His  presence  f 
There  was  then  more  reahty  in  the  ancient  view;  they  dwelt  on  the 
words,  in  which  he  gave  them  their  commission  to  baptize,  as  con- 
taining His  meaning  in  tVat  commission  ;  they  combined  their  whole 
purport ;  they  reahzed  more  their  Saviour's  Presence  ;  they  be- 
lieved that  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  words  given  by 
Christ  Himself,  was  "  with  power,"  as  being  accompanied  by  His 
Presence  through  His  Spirit.  The  analogy  traced  by  Origen.t  be- 
tween this  miracle  and  the  relation  which  our  Lord's  miraculous 
cures  of  bodily  diseases  bore  to  those  of  the  soul,  in  itself  very 
striking,  may  sum  up  their  meaning,  "  You  must  know  that  as  the 
wonderful  miracles  in  the  cures  wrought  by  the  Saviour,  being 
symbols  of  those  who  were  continually,  by  the  word  of  God,  being 
freed  from  all  sickness  and  infirmity,  nevertheless  were  profita- 
ble when  they  took  place  in  the  body,  inviting  to  faith  those  so  ben- 
efited, so  also  the  washing  through  water  being  a  symbol  of  the 
cleansing  of  the  soul  washed  from  all  stain  of  sin,  is  in  itself  also, 
to  him  who  yieldeth  himself  to  the  Divinity  ^f  the  power  of  the  in- 
vocation of  the  adorable  Trinity,  nothing  less  than  the  beginning 
and  fountain  of  "  Divine  gifts."  As,  then,  ftie  invocation  of  our 
Lord's  Name  was  efficacious  in  casting  out  deviis,  so  they  believed 
that  spiritually  also  devils  should  be  cast  out  in  His  Name  ;|  that 
"  the  invocation  of  the  Name  of  the  adorable  Trinity"  was  effica- 
cious, not  in  itself,  but  because  He  willed  it. 

*  De  Myst.  ^  27.         f  Comm.  in  Joh.  torn.  6.  ^  17.  p.  133.  ed.  de  la  Rue. 
X  Mark  xvi.  7. 


69 

St.  Matthew  records  the  words  of  the  commission  given  through 
the  Apostles  to  the  Church ;  St.  Mark  adds  the  awful  sanction  under 
which  it  was  given.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved  ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Our  Lord  thus 
states,  positively,  what  he  had  before  to  Nicodemus  said  negatively. 
Through  Nicodemus,  He  warned  us  that  without  Baptism  there  was 
no  entrance  into  His  kingdom  ;  here  He  tells  us,  that  whoso  believeth 
in  Him  shall  then  have  the  blessings,  which  are  in  Him,  imparted 
to  him,  if  he  be  baptized.  He  places  two  conditions  of  salvation 
before  us  ;  one  required  on  our  part,  the  other  promised  on  His  : 
One,  a  requisite  in  us,  though  His  gift  in  us,  the  other  His  gift  to 
us  ;  Faith,  whereby  we  desire  to  be  healed,  and  His  gift,  whereby 
He  healeth  us.  And  as  in  His  bodily  miracles,  He  could  not  do 
many  mighty  works  among  His  countrymen,  because  of  their  unbe- 
lief, and  He  required  in  them  who  would  be  healed,  Faith  in  Him 
the  Saviour  of  all,  and  telleth  them,  "  Thy  Faith  hath  saved  thee," 
yet  was  it  not  Faith  alone,  which  healed  them,  but  rather  His  "  Vir- 
tue," which  "went  out  of  Him,"  and  Faith  was  only  a  necessary 
condition  which,  in  the  fitness  of  things,  He  required  in  those  upon 
whom  he  should  exercise  His  goodness  ;  so,  in  this  His  spiritual 
miracle  of  our  new-birth,  faith  removes  the  obstacle  which  sin  pre- 
sents to  our  receiving  the  Divine  Influence  ;  it  turns  us  to  God,  who 
by  Adam's  fall  were  turned  away  from  Him  ;  it  replaces  us  in  a  posi- 
tion of  dependence  upon  Him  ;  it  presents  us  wilhngly  before  Him 
to  receive  that  life,  which  He  is  and  communicates  (according  to 
their  measure)  to  all  His  creatures,  who  depend  upon  Him.  By  one 
universal  law,  from  the  highest  Angel,  or  Dominion,  or  Power,  who 
"  always  beholdeth  the  face  of  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven,"  to 
the  "young  ravens*  which  cry  unto  Him,"  or  the  "young  lions, "f 
who,  "  roaring  after  their  prey,  do  seek  their  meat  from  God  ;"  (yea, 
and  the  "  thirsty  land,"  which  gapeth  for  the  dew  and  rain  from 
heaven,  expresses  the  same  law,)  He  hath  appointed  dependence 
upon  Him  to  be  a  condition  of  receiving  His  gifts.  Yet  is  not  our 
dependance  the  gift  for  which  we  depend  upon  Him ;  the  raven's 
cry  is  not  the  raven's  food  ;  the  Archangel's  fixed,  unvarying  gaze 
on  our  Father's  countenance  is  not  "the  Tjight  which  in  His  light  he 
seeth  ;"  our  Faith  is  not  our  Baptism,  nor  God's  gift  in  it.  It  is  then, 
of  course,  right  that  we  should  be  jealous  that  our  faith  be  of  the  right 
sort,  (in  whatever  way  this  is  to  be  ascertained,  which  is  another 
question,)  but  it  is  mere  egotism,  self  disguising  itself  under  the  form 
of  zeal  for  purity  of  faith  which  would  look  upon  this  as  all  or  as  the 
chief  thing  ;  which  would  confound  the  cleansing  of  the  cup  and  plat- 
ter, for  the  rich  wine  which  he  poureth  into  it,  the  setting  our  man- 
sion in  order,  for  its  Celestial  Visitant,  who,  though  we  be  unworthy, 

*  Job  xxxviii.  41.     f  Ps.  civ.  21.  cxlv.  15.  cxlvii.  9.  Joel  i.  20. 


70 

comes  under  our  roof ;  or  rather,  what  is  our's  is  not  even  so  much 
as  this,  but  rather  it  is  the  wish  that  He  would  fill  our  empty  vessels, 
and  by  filling,  cleanse  them  ;  that  He  would  repair  the  walls  of  our 
mansion,  which  is  broken  down,  and  repairing,  make  it  His  habita- 
tion, or  by  so  making  it  repair  it.  It  is  then  a  grievous  fault  in  our 
habit  of  mind,  if  any  venture  to  make  that  which  is  required  in  us,  as 
of  chief  moment,  and  God's  gift  secondary  ;  would  place  a  quality  or 
qualification  in  us,  above  that  for  which  it  qualifieth  us  ;  and,  when 
our  Lord  has  said,  "  he  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved," 
should  dissect  and  sever  what  He  has  thus  conjoined,  and  hold  that 
we  were  in  such  sense  "  saved  by  faith  only,"  as  that  Baptism  was 
of  secondary  account,  an  outward  exhibition  of  what  had  already 
taken  place  inwardly.  And  yet  this  will  be  found  by  many  (if  they 
would  be  honest  to  themselves)  to  be  their  habit  of  mind,  and  they 
regard  Baptism  as  of  no  moment,  except  as  any  other  act  of  obedi- 
ence, having  no  virtue  annexed  to  it,  but  a  sort  of  incmnbrance, 
which  must  be  taken,  and  taken  thankfully,  because  it  has  been  en- 
joined, but  still  is  just  as  much  a  burthen,  and  as  outward,  as  any  rite 
of  the  Jewish  law  was  ever  held  to  be.  They  look  upon  it  as  a  mere 
outward  duty  to  be  performed,  not  as  an  inestimable  privilege  to  be 
received, — as  an  appendage  to  faith,  which  they  only  dare  not  say 
may  be  dispensed  with. 

It  is  not  then  for  us  to  establish  any  comparison  between  the  two 
conditions  to  which  our  Lord  has  here  annexed  salvation  ;  they  are 
plainly  incommensurables  ;  any  quality  in  us  can  have  no  proportion 
to  God's  gift  to  us  ;  there  can  be  none  between  our  desire  to  have  our 
sins  remitted  and  His  remission  of  them  :  our  belief,  that  "if  He  will, 
He  can  make  us  clean"  and  will,  if  we  will  it  earnestly,  and  His 
cleansing  us  ;  our  desire  to  be  conformed  to  Him,  and  His  conform- 
ing us  to  Himself. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  strange  gloss,  which,  because,  our  Lord  having 
first  limited  salvation  to  those  "  who  believe  and  are  baptized,"  then 
adds  only,  "  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned,"  would  infer  that 
He  also  would  thereby  disparage  the  Sacrament,  which  he  had  just 
placed  at  the  tlu-eshold,  and  as  the  very  door  of  salvation.  For  a  very 
little  thought  would  have  shown,  that,  though  our  Saviour  annexed 
the  reception  of  the  Sacrament  of  regeneration,  to  belief  in  Him,  as 
a  condition  of  salvation,  there  was  no  occasion  to  mention  it  in  the 
case  of  unbelief:  unbehevers  would  not  be  "baptized  in  Christ's 
name,  for  the  remission  of  sins  :"  since  they  believed  not,  the  "  wrath 
of  God  abode  upon  them."  (John  iii.  36.)  Baptism,  without  faith, 
undoubtedly  would  save  none  :  as  faith,  also,  without  charity,  profit- 
eth  nothing  (1  Cor.  xiii.) :  yet  no  one  would  think  this  was  said  in 
disparagement  of  faith ;  much  less,  then,  the  omission  of  Baptism, 
in  the  other  case,  when  our  Saviour  had  just  ordained  it,  without 
any  limitation,  as  necessary  for  all  who  believe. 


71 

Can  then,  (to  insist  again  on  the  end  for  which  these  passages  are 
here  adduced,  the  comparison  of  our  mind  with  the  "  mind  of  Christ" 
in  Holy  Scripture,)  can  then  they  who,  out  of  this  teaching,  in  which 
our  Lord  inculcates  the  necessity  of  Baptism,  fix  their  minds  only 
on  the  one  sentence  in  which  mention  of  it  is  omitted,  think  that  they 
are  listening  teachably  to  Him  ?  or  that,  when  they  speak  dispara- 
gingly of  that,  which  He  enjoined  wherever  He  should  be  believed 
on,  they  are  like-minded  with  Him  ?  Does  the  Sacrament  of  B^- 
tism  acquire  no  awfulness  of  value  from  being  commanded  by  our 
ascending  Lord,  just  as  He  was  establishing  His  everlasting  king- 
dom upon  earth,  and  about  to  assume  His  heavenly  kingdom  above 
all  things  ?  "  So  then  after  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  them.  He  was 
received  up  into  heaven  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  God  ?"*  Rather, 
every  thing  here  invests  it  with  solemnity  ;  His  foundation  of  His 
Church  thereon ;  His  bestowing  it  as  His  parting  gift ;  His  annex- 
ing to  it  our  salvation ;  His  binding  up  with  it,  and  imparting  to  us 
by  it,  and  reserving  for  this  moment  at  which  to  impart  it,  the  full 
and  distinct  revelation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Ever  Blessed  Trinity  ; 
His  commanding  this  act  alone  in  the  whole  Christian  life,  to  be  done 
in  Their  Name  ;  His  promise  that  Their  Name  shall  herein  be  effi- 
cacious. In  St.  Chrysostom'sf  words,  "  the  holy  angels  stand  by, 
doing  nothing,  they  only  look  on  what  is  done  ;  but  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  effect  all.  Let  us,  then,  obey  the  declara- 
tion of  God,  for  this  is  more  credible  than  sight ;  for  sight  is,  yea 
and  oftentimes,  deceived ;  but  that  can  never  fail.   Obey  we  then  it." 

Our  Lord  annexed  salvation  to  Baptism,  in  that  He  said,  "  Whoso 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,"  and  it  is  accordingly  the 
same  truth,  only  directly  enunciated,  when  His  Apostles  say,  "Bap- 
tism saves  us,"  (1  Pet.  iii.  21.)  "  He  saved  us  through  the  wash- 
ing of  regeneration."  (Tit.  iii.  5.)  Of  these  two  statements,  it  is 
remarkable  that  St.  Paul  leaves  his  wholly  unguarded  ;  he  contrasts 
Baptism  with  any  works  which  we  had  done  ;  but  while  he  contrasts 
our  works  with  God's  free  mercy,  he  declares  unhesitatingly  and  un- 
qualifiedly, "  He  saved  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration."  St. 
Peter  (writing  to  Jewish  converts,  who  had  been  "  chosen"  out  of 
"  the  Dispersion,"^:  their  brethren  in  Asia  Minor,  "  to  obedience  and 
the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,")  accompanies  his  state- 
ment of  the  benefits  of  Baptism  with  a  contrast  with  those  "  divers 
washings"  to  which  as  Jews  they  had  been  accustomed,  and  reminds 
them  that  this  was  not,  as  theijs,  an  outward,  but  an  inward  washing; 
not  merely  a  putting  off  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  such  as  "  those  pu- 
rifications of  the  flesh,!^  imposed  upon  them  until  the  time  of  refor- 

*  Mark  xvi.  19.  f  Horn.  25.  al.  24.  in  Johan.  ^  2. 

J  "  Peter,  an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  elect  sojourners  of  the  disper- 
sion in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia."  1  Pet.  i.  1. 

^  iiKaiMjiara  aapKoi,  i.  e.    "  camal  commandments,  cleansing  the  flesh,  and  so 


72 

mation."  (Heb.  ix.  10.)  In  like  way,  St.  Paul,  when  writing  to 
the  same  class  of  persons,  speaks  to  them  as  "having  had  their  hearts 
sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,"  as  well  as  *'  their  bodies  washed 
will)  pure  (i.  e,  purifying*)  water,"  not,  as  under  their  law,  having 
been  outwardly  cleansed  only.  But  this,  as  every  gift  of  God,  could 
only  be  received  by  those  who  came  in  "an  honest  and  true  heart," 
not  feignedly  ;  wherefore  he  adds,  "  not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth 
of  the  flesh,  but  the  enquiry  into  a  good  conscience  towards  God," 
i.  e.  Baptism,  received  not  hypocritically,  but  with  a  good  conscience  ; 
the  candidate  for  Baptism,  with  integrity  of  heart,  renouncing  Satan, 
engaging  to  obedience,  and  confessing  unto  salvation  the  truths  of 
the  creed  delivered  to  him  ;  (for  it  is  certain  that  in  this  word  "en- 
quiry" allusion  is  made  to  the  interrogations  in  Baptism,  which  were 
to  be  answered  by  a  "  faith  unfeigned,"*)  Thus,  then,  St.  Peter 
declares  precisely  the  truth  delivered  to  him  by  his  Lord,  that  "  he 
that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved,"  or,  "  Baptism  saves 
us,"  approaching  it  with  "  a  good  conscience  towards  God."  This 
truth  the  Church,  in  the  simplicity  of  ancient  faith,  readily  received, 
and  accordingly  adopted  it  in  her  creed,  "  I  acknowledge  one  bap- 
tism for  the  remission  of  sins,"  i.  e.  one  Baptism  only,  the  effect  and 
end  of  which  is  that  remission.  The  differen«;e  of  a  modern  habit  of 
mind  shows  itself  here  in  two  ways  :  (1.)  as,  before,  it  seized  on  the 
omission  of  Baptism  in  our  Lord's  words,  "  He  that  believeth  not," 
&c.  to  make  use  of  it  as  an  argument  against  His  meaning  where  He 
had  just  mentioned  it,  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved  ;"  so  when  His  disciple  says,  "  Baptism  saves  us,  not  the  put- 
ting away  the  filth  of  the  flesh,"  &c,  they  w^ould  forget  entirely  his 
positive  statement  that  "  Baptism  does  save  us,"  in  their  anxiety  to 
point  out  how  it  does  not.  Identifying  Baptism,  in  itself,  with  "  the 
putting  away  the  filth  of  the  flesh"  they  give,  almost  unavoidably,  a 
Pelagian  sense  to  the  words,  that  "  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience 
towards  God  saves  us."  It  surely  implies  a  very  altered  state  of 
mind,  if,  when  the  Apostle  of  Christ  dwells  chiefly  on  God's  good- 
ness to  us  in  His  Sacrament,  "  Baptism  saves  us,"  and,  subordinately, 
distinguishes  it  from  Jewish  washings,  and  states  the  requisites  to  its 
healthful  reception,  a  certain  class  of  modern  interpretation  scarcely 
recurs  to  the  text,  except  for  the  sake  of  proving  in  what  case  Bap- 
justifying  according  to  the  flesh,  those  who,  according  to  the  flesh,  were  ac- 
counted unclean."  Theophyl.  ad  loc. 

*  "  i.  6.  of  Baptism.  '  Pure'  is  that  which  makes  men  pure,  (or  that  which 
has  not  blood  mingled  with  it,  as  that  of  old  was  with  ashes.)  For  although 
the  grace  of  the  Spirit  in  Baptism  purifies  the  soul  only,  yet  here  Paul  has  con- 
joined visible  [in  the  N.  T.]  with  visible  [in  the  Old.]  And  in  the  very  act  of 
Baptism,  water  is  conjoined  for  the  sake  of  the  body.  For  we  being  twofold, 
the  cleansing  also  is  twofold."     Theoph.  ad  loc. 

t  See  Note  H,  at  the  end. 


73 

tism  would  not  save,  or  rather  that  in  no  case  Baptism  saves,  but 
only  what  it  esteems  faith.  It  glides  away  from  the  truth,  "  Baptism 
saves  us,"  recurs  not  to  it  for  comfort,  believes  it  not  as  a  privilege, 
reahzes  it  not  as  God's  gift,  but  employs  the  qualifications  with  which 
it  must  be  received,  as  an  argument  to  disparage  it,  to  make  the  gift 
subordinate  to  the  qualification.  (2.)  This  same  class  of  interpreta- 
tion would  unhesitatingly  say,  "we  are  saved  by  faith"  (though  the 
phrase  no  where  exactly  occurs  in  Holy  Scripture,  and  St.  James 
says,  in  a  certain  case,  "  Can  faith  save  him?")  and  yet  it  will  not 
say  any  how,  that  "  Baptism  saves  us,"  although  two  Apostles  say  so, 
and  St.  Paul  exalts  it,  without  any  limitation,  as  the  great  proof  of  the 
free  mercy  of  God,  St.  Peter,  with  an  explanation,  adapted  to  the  state 
of  his  converts.  Thus,  would  not  many  shrink,  if  they  heard  it  de- 
clared to  their  flocks  that  they  had  been  "saved  by  Baptism,"  and  be 
very  apprehensive,  lest  it  shall  plunge  them  into  a  carnal  security,  lest 
they  should  presume  upon  their  privileges,  and  because  they  had  been 
saved  once,  think  they  would  any  how  be  saved  eternally,  and  so 
sleep  on  ?  And,  however  they  will  at  once  cast  aside  such  fleshly 
misapprehensions  of  doctrines,  in  which  themselves  believe,  will  they 
not  dread  the  eflfects  of  such  teaching,  and  seek  not  only  to  explain  it 
but  to  qualify  it?  But  what  else  is  this  than  to  be  jealous,  in  a  way 
in  which  Scripture  has  not,  been ;  to  set  one  part  of  Divine  truth 
against  another,  or  rather  (as  it  must  be)  men's  own  interpretation  of 
the  one  against  what  is  plainly  declared  in  another  ?  Justification  bi/ 
faith  does  not  exclude  justification  through,  or  by  Baptism,  any  more 
than  salvation  iy  grace  excludes  salvation  throvgh  faith,  which  the 
Apostle  in  one  sentence  unites,  "ye  are  saved  by  grace  through 
faith  ;"  they  who  can  distinguish  God's  free  grace  as  the  cause  of 
salvation,  and  faith  as  the  channel  whereby  it  is  received,  might  also 
distinguish  Baptism  as  the  channel  through  which  God  bestows  it, 
and  faith  as  the  quality  through  which  we  receive  it.  And  yet  if 
men  would  analyze  their  own  feelings,  many  would  find  that  this 
saying,  "  Baptism  saves  us,"  sounds  foreign  or  (if  they  dared  to  think 
it)  repulsive  to  them  ;  that  it  finds  no  place  in  their  system  ;  that 
they  dismiss  such  an  expression  from  their  thoughts,  as  one  requir- 
ing explanation  to  give  it  a  sound  sense,  instead  of  conveying,  of 
NECESSITY,  DOCTRINAL  TRUTH.  And  if  this  bc  SO,  havc  we  not  lost 
a  portion  of  our  inheritance  ? 

Contrast,  herewith,  St.  Augustine's  unhesitating  faith,  "  Most  ex- 
cellently," saith  he,  writing  against  the  Pelagians,*  "  do  the  Punic 
Christians  entitle  Baptism  itself  no  other  than  Salvation,  and  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Body  of  Christ  no  other  than  Life.  Whence,  ex- 
cept from  an  old,  as  I  deem,  and  Apostolical  tradition,  by  which 
they  hold  it  to  be  implanted  into  the  church  of  Christ,  that,  without 

*  De  peccat.  merit,  et  remiss.  L.  1.  ^  34. 


74 

Baptism,  and  the  participation  of  the  Lord's  Table,  no  man  can  ar. 
rive,  either  at  ihe  kingdom  of  God,  or  salvation  and  life  eternal  ?* 
This,  as  we  have  said,  is  what  Scripture  testifies.  For  what  do 
they  who  entitle  Baptism,  Salvation,  hold  other  than  what  is  writ- 
ten, '  He  hath  saved  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  ;'  and  what 
Peier  saith,  '  The  like  figure  whereunto  Baptism  doth  now  save 
you  V  " 

And  yet  is  it  no  privilege  that  we  have  been  saved,  have  been 
taken  out  of  the  state  in  which  we  by  nature  were,  without  any  de- 
serts of  our  own,  before  we  knew,  of  ourselves,  good  or  evil,  but 
had  the  evil  of  our  fallen  nature  adhering  to  us,  that  not  by  any  frail 
will,  or  purpose,  or  faith  of  our  ov/n,  but  by  God's  strong  hand,  we 
were  plucked  out  of  the  depth  of  misery  in  which  we  lay,  and  out  of 
the  deep  mire  of  sin,  and  our  "  foot  set  upon  the  Rock,"  "in  a  large," 
free,  disentangled  "  place,"  where  "  our  goings  are  ordered?"  Is  it 
no  cause  of  thankfulness  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  to  have  to  look 
back  upon  a  definite  Act  of  God,  whereby  He  "  placed  us  in  a  state 
of  salvation,"!  there  by  His  grace  to  continue  ;  that,  independently 
of  any  feelings  of  ours,  which  may  not  be  so  vivid  as  they  once 
were,  antecedently  to  all  of  error  infirmity  and  sin,  which  there  may 
have  been  in  our  course  hitherto,  and  the  imperfections  which  have 
cleaved,  and  (it  is  to  be  feared)  do  cleave  to  all  our  acts,  marring  our 
repentances,  our  faith,  our  works  of  love,  there  is  still  one  bright 
spot  whereon  to  look  back,  when  God  the  Father  chose  us  to  be  his 
sons  in  His  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  sanctified  us  and  sealed  us  as 
His  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  bear  His  mark  upon  us,  which  His  mercy 
has  been  more  powerful  to  retain,  we  trust,  than  our  sins  to  efface  ? 
Would  not  the  faithful  among  the  Israelites,  in  their  wanderings 
through  the  wilderness,  look  back  often  to  the  Red  Sea  strand, 
where  "  the  waters  overwhelmed  their  enemies,  and  there  was  not 
one  of  them  left,  and  He  saved  them  from  the  hand  of  him  that  hat- 
ed them,  and  redeemed  them  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy  ?"J  And 
shall  not  we  in  our  pilgi'image  through  our  wilderness,  look  back 
with  a  thankful  yearning  to  that  day,  which  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
but  shadowed  out,  when  we  were  "  saved  from  the  hand  of  him  who 
hates  us,  and  redeemed  out  of  the  hand  of  the  enemy,"  and  "  believ- 
ing His  words,  sing  His  praise?"^  We  are  formed  to  look  back  and 
forward,  and  from  looking  to  the  past  to  derive  strength  for  the  fu- 

*  The  Pelagians,  in  order  to  avoid  the  argument  from  St.  Johniii.  5.  feigned 
that  a  person  might,  without  the  new  birth,  come  to  the  life  eternal,  but  not  to 
the  kingdom  of  God.     See  above,  p.  33. 

t  "  And  I  heartily  thank  our  Heavenly  Father,  that  He  hath  called  me  to 
this  state  of  salvation,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.  And  I  pray  unto 
God  to  give  me  his  grace  that  I  may  continue  in  the  same  unto  my  life's  end." 
Church  Catechism. 

JPs.  cvi.  10,  11.  §  lb.  V.  13. 


75 

ture.  Those  whose  natural  feelings  have  not  been  spoiled  by  subse- 
quent artificial  habits,  look  back  with  an  inexpressible  longing  to  the 
bright  days  of  childhood  and  of  youth,  and  God's  guardian  arm 
around  them,  and  the  peaceful  home,  which,  perhaps,  knows  them 
no  more,  and  the  comparative  innocence  which  intercourse  with  the 
world  and  life's  downward  course  has  in  whatever  degree  defiled  ; 
and  the  bright  visions  of  that  past  cheer  them  on  amid  life's  sorrows 
and  strifes.  It  is  not  then  in  vain,  surely,  that  throughout  His 
whole  Church  He  has  blended  with  that  early  past,  one  brighter 
spot  which  sheds  its  lustre  over  all,  and  from  which  the  light  of  their 
suns  shines  seven-fold,*  our  Baptismal  morn ;  an  Oasis,  it  may  be, 
in  a  wilderness,  but  a  spot,  on  which  our  memory  may,  without  mis- 
giving, repose,  because  all  its  brightness  comes  directly  from  Him, 
and  in  it  "  the  hght  of  His  countenance"  shone,  and  still  shines  upon 
us,  if  we  look  back  for  it.  No  !  our  Baptism  is  of  inexpressible 
Talue  and  comfort,  even  because  it  is  the  act  of  God  ;  it  has  nothing 
earthly  mingled  with  it ;  it  was  simply  His,  who  chose  us  accord- 
ing to  His  eternal  purpose,  "lo  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,"!  and  "  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  children  by  Je- 
sus Christ  unto  Himself,"|  making  us  "  in  the  Beloved, "§  His  own 
sons,  members  of  His  Christ,  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Our 
comfort,  our  joy,  our  peace,  our  consolation,  our  glory,  is,  to  have, 
what  we  have,  purely  from  Him,  to  have  the  foundation  of  our  hopes 
out  of  ourselves,  and  conveyed  by  a  formal  act  of  His,  whereby 
not  according  to  works  of  righteousness  which  we  did,  but  according 
to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,  through  the  washing  of  regeneration 
and  of  the  renewal  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  that  "  Baptism  saves  us, 
through  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  Who  is  on  the  right  hand 
of  God." 

It  might  have  sufficed,  perhaps,  to  have  noticed  one  passage,  in 
which  through  our  depreciation  of  our  Blessed  Saviour's  ordinance, 
we  have  lost  the  support,  the  strength,  the  cheering  hope,  which  He 
provided  for  us.  For  our  mode  of  understanding  any  passage  of 
Holy  Scripture  is  not  to  be  considered  as  something  insulated  :  re- 
sulting, as  it  does,  from  our  general  frame  of  mind,  our  habits  of 
thought  and  feeling,  and  the  character  of  our  religious  belief.  Our 
insight  into  Scripture,  as  it  is  an  instrument  in  forming  our  minds,  so 
is  it  in  part  the  result  of  the  mind  formed  within  us  :  our  character  of 
mind  is  a  condition  of  understanding  God's  word  :  according  to  what 
we  ourselves  are  become,  does  that  word  appear  to  us  :  it  is  given  to 
us  according  as  we  have  :  our  present,  is  in  proportion  to  our  past, 
profit.  No  misunderstanding  then  of  any  portion  of  Holy  Scripture ; 
(I  speak — not,  of  course,  of  words  or  expressions,  but — of  the  gene- 
ral tenor  of  passages  of  Scripture  ;)  no  shallowness  of  conception  ; 

*  Is.  XXX.  26.        t  1  Pet.  i.  2.        %  Eph.  i.  5.         ^  Ver.  6. 


76 

no  false  spiritualism,  or  sluggish  resting  in  the  letter  of  any  place,  can 
stand  singly;  for,  whatever  be  the  defect  which  dims  our  sight  in  the 
one  place,  it  will  obscure  our  understanding  of  other  passages  also. 
This,  as  before  said,  we  readily  admit  in  gross  and  palpable  cases  : 
we  know,  indeed,  from  authority,  of  the  veil  on  the  hearts  of  the 
Jews,  and  of  the  god  of  this  world,  who  blindeth  the  understandings 
of  the  unbelieving :  we  readily  admit  that  one  who  has,  practically, 
vague  notions  of  justification  by  faith  will  understand  but  little  of  St. 
Paul ;  but  we  fail  often  to  apply  the  test  to  our  own  case,  and  thor- 
oughly to  examine  what  is  wanting  to  our  own  mental  character,  and 
how  that  deficiency  prevents  our  more  fully  understanding  God's 
word.  What  owr  dull  eyes  see  in  large  and  flagrant  instances,  exists, 
we  may  be  sure,  where  they  are  too  heavy  to  penetrate  ;  so  that  no 
one  wrong  habit  of  mind,  or  faulty  principle  can  exist,  in  however 
slight  a  degree,  without  affecting  our  views  of  Scripture  truth. 

To  examine,  then,  the  other  passages  wherein  Baptism  is  spoken  of, 
may  have  uses  even  beyond  the  immediate  purpose  of  impressing 
upon  ourselves  the  greatness  of  God's  gift  iheiein;  for  these  will,  in 
their  turn,  open  to  us  the  meaning  of  other  Scriptures  also,  which  the 
failure  to  apprehend  these  has  closed  to  us.  A  right  understanding 
of  Baptism,  as  the  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  is  essential 
to  the  understanding  of  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  grace,  its  duties, 
its  comforts,  and  its  privileges  ;  and  a  faithful  apprehension  of  the 
fulness  of  one  Scripture  sets  the  mind  in  the  frame,  to  which  God 
discloses  the  meaning  of  others. 

The  passages  of  Scripture,  then,  relating  to  Holy  Baptism,  may 
be  considered  under  the  following  heads.  1.  Passages  in  which 
Scripture  speaks  of  high  privileges  and  Divine  gifts,  involving  duty 
as  the  ancient  Church  saw,  but  in  which  moderns  have  lost  sight  of 
the  privileges  and  gifts,  and  see  only  duties,  2.  Passages  in  which 
moderns  have  appropriated  to  themselves  the  privileges,  without 
thought  of  the  means  whereby  they  are  conveyed.  3.  Passages,  in 
which  moderns  see  that  Baptism  is  mentioned,  but  without  attaching 
any  especial  notion  to  it.  In  all,  it  is  remarkable  to  see,  how  for  the 
most  part  we  have  lost  not  only  the  original  meaning  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, but  even  all  suspicion  that  we  are  in  error. 

1 .  Passages  in  ivhich  Holy  Scripture  speaks  of  gifts  of  God, 
moderns  see  only  duties  of  man. 

In  these  passages  the  question  is,  not  whether  they  enjoin  not  du- 
ties conformable  to  our  ^calling,  but  whether  they  contain  not  more 
than  duties, — God's  gifts  actually  conferred  upon  us,  whereby  we 
are  enabled  to  perform  those  duties  ;  whether  they  be  a  mere 
setting  forth  of  persuasive  motives  to  influence  our  will,  or  whether 
they  contain  also  an  account  of  God's  Power  imparted  to  us,  where- 
by that  will  has  been  influenced,  and  a  free  will  has  been  given  us  ; 
whether  they  only  put  our  duties  in  connection  with  our  Saviour's 


77 

Life,  Death,  or  Resurrection,  and  show  the  Hght  cast  upon  them 
from  His  Cross,  or  Grave,  or  whether  they  state  that  the  virtue  of 
that  Cross,  precious  Death,  and  glorious  Resurrection,  has  been 
communicated  to  us,,  and  that  hght  infused  into  our  own  hearts,  "ac- 
cording to  the  working  of  His  mighty  power,  which  He  wrought  in 
Christ,  when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead  ;"*  whether,  in  a  word, 
they  be  outward  motives,  or  inward  power.  The  difference  is  very 
essential ;  for  if  it  be  found  that  Holy  Scripture  speaks  uniformly  of 
a  power  imparted  to  us,  then,  when  for  this,  men  would  substitute 
"  influential  motives,"  and  the  like  ;  they  are,  in  fact,  unconsciously 
substituting  "  Gospel  motives"  for  the  Gospel,  man's  will  for 
Christ's  Power,  the  tendency  of  truths  to  excite  love,  for  "  the  love 
of  Christ  constraining  us,"  persuasiveness  of  man's  preaching  for  the 
"  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  power ;"  and  as  soon  as  they 
trust  in  the  inherent  power  of  Gospel  truths  to  work  their  effects  upon 
the  soul,  they  do  in  fact  make  an  idol,  substituting  a  statement  of 
truth  for  Him  who  is  "  the  Life"  as  well  as  "  the  Truth."  Such  a 
procedure  may  readily  degenerate  into  a  practical  Pelagianism  ;  for 
extolling  the  efficacy  of  certain  motives!,  when  faithfully  set  forth,  to 
move  and  win  men's  affections,  may  easily  be,  and  is  frequently,taken 
to  imply  the  power  of  the  unrenewed  will  to  act  upon  those  motives. 
It  matters  not  whether  the  motive  so  proposed  be  in  itself  the  very 
highest  or  the  lowest ;  the  deficiency  in  man's  condition  before  the 
Gospel  was  not  the  lack  of  motives,  but  of  power  to  act  upon  them ; 
it  matters  not  whether  it  be  present  comfort,  or  the  Elysian  fields,  or 
the  beauty  of  virtue,  or  the  love  of  God,  or  thankfulness  to  the  Incar- 
nate Son  ;  so  long  as  it  be  an  external  motive  proposed  to  the  will, the 
will  is  as  little,  rather  it  is  less  able  to  appreciate  or  act  upon  that, 
which,  to  a  purified  spirit,  were  the  most  persuasive,  than  upon  the 
most  carnal.  The  more  carnal,  the  more  fitted  for  it;  the  brighter 
the  sun's  rays,  the  less  fitted  is  the  weak  and  disordered  eye  to  be- 
hold them.  So,  then,  under  the  older  dispensation,  carnal  ordinances 
and  carnal  promises  harmonized  together,  and  that  which  was  evan- 
gelic gleaming  through  both  ;  in  the  Gospel,  spiritual  and  life-giving 
Ordinances,  and  spiritual  promises  and  motives, 

*  Eph.  i.  19. 
+  Hence  the  unconscious  tendency  to  Rationalism  among  many  of  our  evi- 
dence-writers, who  set  forth  the  inherent  efficacy  of  the  great  Christian  doc- 
trines, and  thereby  teach  o^Aer^  to  substitute  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  for 
the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  To  take  a  passage  of  this  kind  from  a 
popular  American  work,  "  A  knowledge  of  the  death  of  Christ,  with  the  expla- 
nation of  it  given  in  the  Scripturesi  touches  men's  Iiearts  ;  it  shows  the  nature 
and  tendencies  of  sin ;  it  produces  fear  of  God's  displeasure,  and  resolution 
to  return  to  duty  ;  and  thus  produces  effects  hy  which  justice  is  satisfied,  y — 
Mr.  Abbott's  Corner  Stone,  p.  174.  See  further  the  Tract  whence  this  ex- 
tract is  taken,  ''On  the  Introductionof  Rationalistic  Principles  into  Religion," 
Tracts,  No.  73, 


78 

To  the  unconverted  the  Apostles  set  forth  judgment  to  come*,  re- 
pentance from  dead  works,  remission  of  sins  througli  baptism  upon 
faith  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  then  on  conversion  followed  baptism,  convey- 
ing remission  of  sins,  uniting  them  with  Christ,  imparting  to  them  the 
Spirit ;  and  then  those  baptized  they  urge  to  use  the  power  thus  im- 
parted to  them  ;  to  them  they  apply  the  Gospel  motives,  because 
they  had  received  the  strength  of  the  Gospel :  tliey  bid  them  "  walk 
worthy  of  the  vocation,  wherewith  they  had  been  called,"  having  first 
bid  them,  "  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  arise  and  walk." 

This,  which  is  perceptible  in  all  the  teaching  of  8t.  Paul's  Epis- 
tles, is  so  in  that  Epistle  to  which  men  liave  strongly  appealed,  as 
containing  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  to  the  exclusion  of  or- 
dinances : 

1.1.  "Knowfyenot,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ, 
were  baptized  into  His  death  ?  Tiierelbre  we  were  buried  with  Him  by  Bap- 
tism into  death ;  that  Uke  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of 
the  Father,  even  so  also  we  should  walk  in  newness  of  life  For,  if  we  have 
been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  His  death,  we  shall  be  also  of  His 
resurrection  :  knowinfj  this,  that  our  old  man  was  crucitied  with  Him,  that  the 
body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed." 

Now  all,  unquestionably,  that  a  large  number  of  Christians,  at  the 
present  day,  find,  in  this  passage,  is  that  Baptism  represents  (as  it 
does)  to  us  our  profession,  that  we,  having  been  baptized,  and  having 
acknowledged  Christ  as  our  Jjord,  are  boundX  to  lead  a  new  and 
godly  life,  and  to  be  crucified  to  sin  and  the  world,  as  he  was  cruci- 
fied for  om-  sin ;  and  if  so,  that  we  shall  rise  with  Him.  This  is 
very  true,  and  is  certainly  in  the  passage ;  but  the  question  is,  whe- 
ther this  be  all  ?  whether  St.  Paul  speaks  only  of  duties  entailed 
upon,  and  not  also  of  strength  imparted  to,  us?  The  Fathers  certainly 
of  tlie  Christian  Church,  educated  in  holy  gratitude  for  their  Bap- 
tismal privileges,  saw  herein,  not  only  the  death  unto  sin,  which  we 
were  to  die,  but  that  also  which  in  Christ  we  had  died,  the  actual 
weakening  of  our  corrupt  propensities  by  our  having  been  baptized 
and  incorporated  into  Christ ;  not  the  life  only  which  we  are  to  live, 
but  the  actual  life  which,  by  Baptism,  was  infused  in  us,§  and  by 

*  St.  Peter,  Acts  ii.  20,  21,  38.  iii.  19.  x.  42,  47,  (op.  xi.  14,  16,  18.)  St. 
Paul,  ib.  xvii.  31.  xxiv.  25. 

t  Rom.  vi.  3—6. 

X  Zuingli  Fid.  Christian®  Expos;  0pp.  t.  ii.  f.  551.  v.  "Baptism  signifies 
that  Christ  has  washed  us  with  His  blood ;  and  that  we,  as  St.  Paul  teaches, 
ought  to  put  Him  on,  i.  e.  live  after  His  pattern."  See  note  P.  at  the  end, 
ad  loc. 

\  Hence  this  text  is  incorporated  into  the  prayers  of  several  ancient  Liturgies, 
whence  it  was  taken  into  our  own  in  the  Thanksgiving  which  the  reformers  of 
our  Liturgy  added  to  it  in  the  2d  book  of  Edward  VL  and  which  yet  remains. 
Galilean,  "that  so  the  ancient  hand  writing  may,  by  a  secret  mystery,  be  blotted 
out  under  the  waters ;  and  the  debtors  being  buried  together  with  Christ 


79 

virtue  of  which  it  is,  that  many  of  us  are  now  "  walking  in  newness 
of  hfe,"  are  Hving  in  Christ.  St.  Paul  speaks  throughout  of  actual 
facts,  which  have  taken  place  in  us,  and  duties  consequent  upon 
them  ;  he  sets,  side  by  side,  means  of  grace,  which  we  have  received, 
and  the  holiness  which  we  are  thereby  to  strive  to  attain  unto.  "We 
were  all  baptized  into  Christ,"  i.  e.  into  a  participation  of  Christ,  and 
His  most  precious  Death,  and  union  with  Him;  "  we,"  i.  e.  our  old 
man,  our  corrupted  selves,  "  were  buried  with  Him  by  Baptism  into 
death,  that  we  also  may  walk  in  newness  of  life."  Again,  "  we  were 
planted  in  the  likeness  of  his  death" — that  we  may  ie  "  of  His  resur- 
rection." Again,  "  our  old  man  v)as  crucified  with  Him" — "  that 
the  whole  body  of  sin  might  he  destroyed." 

Now,  in  these  pairs  (so  to  speak)  of  gifts  and  duties,  two  things 
are,  at  first  sight,  observable:  1.  That,  (as  indeed  we  shall  have  oc- 
casion to  point  out  more  extensively,)  St.  Paul  speaks  throughout  of 
these  gifts  as  having  taken  place  at  a  definite  past  time.  Not  only 
we  "  were  baptized,"  but  we  "  loere  buried,"  "  were  planted,"  ^'were 
crucified  ;"  those  acts  are  in  their  fruits  to  live  in  us,  but  in  them- 
selves they  are  past,  just  as  much  as  our  Baptism  is,  in  which  they 
took  place,  and  wherein  they  were  contained  ;  he  speaks  not  here  of 
a  present  crucifixion,  or  even  (as  elsewhere)  of  a  past  crucifixion,  con- 
tinuing on  to  the  present,  "  whereby  the  world  has  been  crucified 
(eirraupurat)  to  mc,  and  I  unto  the  world,"*  but  of  one  wholly  past, 
"  our  old  man  was  crucified  with  Him  ['^vvecravp^en),'^  2.  That  a 
most  intimate  communion  w^ith  these  same  acts  in  our  Lord's  own 
holy  Life  and  Death  is,  by  the  original  language,  conveyed.    It  were 

through  Baptism,  the  likeness  of  His  Death  may  so  take  place  here,  that  the 
loss  [sustained  in  Adam]  of  those  saved  may  be  felt  only  here  on  earth,"  i.  e. 
only  in  their  temporal  not  in  their  eternal  death.  (Ass.ii.37.)  and,  "that  having 
been  buried  in  the  bath  together  with  his  Redeemer,  after  the  likeness  of  the 
holy  and  divine  mystery,  together  with  WTiom  he  dies  (commoritur)  through 
Baptism,  together  with  the  Same  he  may  rise  (cowresurgat)  in  the  kingdom. 
Through,"  &c.  (lb. p.  38.)  Greek,  (a  bidding  prayer)  "In  the  peace  of  the  Lord, 
let  us  pray — that  he  may  be  planted  together,  and  be  a  partaker  of  the  Death 
and  Resurrection  of  Christ  our  God."  (lb.  ii-p.  132.)  "Grant,  O  Lord,  whoso 
is  to  be  baptized  in  it  may  be  transformed,  so  as  to  put  off  the  old  man,  which 
is  corrupted  according  to  the  deceitful  lusts,  and  be  clothed  with  the  new  man, 
renewed  after  the  image  of  Him  Who  created  him,  that  having  been  planted 
together  in  the  likeness  of  His  Death  through  Baptism,  he  may  be  partaker 
also  of  the  Resurrection,"  &c.  (ib.  p.  139.)  This  latter  part  of  the  prayer, 
with  what  follows,  is  found  also  in  the  Syriac  liturgy  translated  by  S.  James 
of  Edessa  (ib.  i.  p.  248,  260.)  and  Xhzt  o{  Jerusalem  (ib.  ii.  250.)  subjoined  to 
a  private  prayer  of  the  priest  for  liimself,  in  that  of  Antioch  (ib.  ii  p.  222,)  and 
of  Severus,  (p.  250,)  which  have  the  former  part  also.  It  occurs  as  a  Baptis- 
mal lesson,  (6.  1 — 8)  in  the  Syriac  Liturgy,  revised  by  Severus,  (ib.  ii.  273,) 
and  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  (Cyril,  Catech.  iii.  1.  xx.  1.)  and  of  Milan, 
Ambr.  de  Sacram.  L.  ii.  ^  23,  see  below,  on  ii.  3. 
•  GaL  vi.  14. 


80 

much,  to  be  buried,  to  be  crucified,  with  Him,  hke  Him  ;  but  it  is 
more  to  become  partakers  of  His  Burial  and  Crucifixion  ;  to  be  (so 
to  speak)  co-interred*,  co-crucified  ;  to  be  included  in,  wrapt  round, 
as  it  were,  in  His  Burial  and  Crucifixion,  and  gathered  into  His  very 
tomb ;  and  this,  he  says,  we  were  by  Baptism  :  transfused  into  His 
Death,  (TW£rd^'?/'£>')  implanted  or  engrafted  into  it  (<^"/'^'"-'"),  our  old 
man  was  thereby  nailed  to  His  very  cross  (awccxTavpcier,).  There  is  a 
marked  identification  with  our  Lord  ;  and  so,  also,  our  walking  in 
newness  of  life,  is  not  the  result  of  any  motive,  however  persuasive, 
but  "  the  power  of  His  Resurrection."  "We  were  buried  with  Him 
by  Baptism  unto  death,  that,  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the 
dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also,"  having  died  with 
Him,  died  through  Baptism  in  His  death,  having  been  buried  with 
Him,  and  so  (else  were  we  not  living)  having  been  raised  again  with 
Him,  having  been  reborn  to  a  new  life,  should  live  in  His  new  Life 
imparted  to  us,  "  should  walk  in  newness  of  life."  The  Apostle 
needed  not  then  to  express  in  words  that  we  had  actually  been  made 
partakers  of  His  Resurrection  ;  he  conveys  more,  in  that  he  does 
not  express  it,  for  so  he  identifies  it  more  "with  His  Resurrection 
through  the  glory  of  the  father." 

And  this,  as  already  implied,  throws  light  on  other  Scriptures,  as 
when  St.  Peter  less  explicitly  parallels  our  death  with  that  of  Christ ; 
"  Christ,!  then,  having  suffered  for  us  in  the  flesh,  arm  yourselves 
likewise  with  the  same  mind,  for  he  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh 
has  ceased  from  sin,"  conveying  that  we  had  not  only  had  the  benefit 
of  his  sufferings  imputed  to  us,  but  in  some  mysterious  way  been 
joined  in  them;  for  the  words  "he  that  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh," 
clearly  belong  to  us,  and  in  this  context  they  belong  to  us  through  our 
being  joined  with  Christ,  i.  e.  "we  have  suffered  in  the  flesh,"  because 
"He  suffered  for  us  in  the  flesh,"  and  we  have  been  engrafted  into 
Him.  And  St.  Paul  again,|  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us, 
having  thus  judged,  that  if  One  died  for  all,  then  have  all  died,  and 
He  died  for  all,  that  they  who  live  might  not  any  more  live  unto 
themselves,  but  unto  Him  who  died  for  them  and  rose  again,"  i.  e. 
by  His  dying  for  all,  all  have  died,  with  and  in  Him  ;  and  that,  that 
the  new  life,  which  through  that  death  they  live,  "  they  might  not  live 
to  themselves,  but  to  Him  Avho  died  for  them,  and  rose  again,"  and 
with  whom,  (it  is  again  implied)  they  have  been  raised.  For  such 
seems  to  be  the  very  end  with  which  St.  Paul  adds  the  words,  "  and 
rose  again." 

*  The  Latin  retains  this,  "  consepeliuntur  in  Christo  ;"  "  veterem  hominem 
conftxum  esse  Christo."  (Test,  de  resurr.  Carnis,  1.  c.  and  de  Pudicit.)  "com- 
plantati"  "  coexcitamur.  "Hil.  de  Trin.  i.  13. 

t  1  Pet.  iv.  9.  X2  Cor.  v.  14,  15. 


81 

In  these  events  we  are  spoken  of  as  passive*  only  ;  we  did  no- 
thing for  ourselves ;  we  were  baptized,  buried,  planted,  crucified; 
the  very  language  marks  that  all  this  was  God's  doing  in  us,  and  for 
us.  We  had  no  more  to  do  with  it,  than  a  man  hath  with  burying 
or  crucifying  himself,  much  less  could  we  join  ourselves  in  our  Sa- 
viour's Death,  or  include  ourselves  in  His  Cross  :  but  we  gave  up 
ourselves  only  to  God,  for  Him  to  work  this  in  us  ;  and  He  "by 
Baptism,"  the  apostle  says,  wrought  it.  Hitherto  we  were  passive 
only  ;  the  apostle  assigns  us  our  own  part,  but  subsequently  ;  in  our 
old  life  we  could  only  have  struggled  impotently  ;  though  "  the 
angel  troubled  the  waters,"  yet  had  we  lain  like  the  infirm  man  who 
"  had  no  one  to  put  him  into  the  pool  ;"  we  had  lain  within  sight  of 
our  remedy,  but  unable  to  apply  it  to  ourselves  ;  our  part  begins 
with  our  new  life  in  Christ,  which  we  have  received  in  Baptism ; 
when  in  Him  we  have  died,  then  begins  that  other  death,  which 
through  Him  we  must  continually  die.  Sin  has  once  been  remitted, 
slain,  crucified  ;  we  must,  henceforth,  watch  that  it  live  not  again  in 
us,  that  we  extirpate  all  the  roots  thereof,  that  we  serve  it  not  again, 
that  we  live  through  its  death.  These  points  were  prominently  in 
the  thoughts  of  the  ancient  Church,  when  dwelling  on  the  text ;  the 
close  connection  of  what  Christ  had  done  for  us  on  the  Cross,  with 
what  He  worketh  in  us  by  His  Spirit  in  Baptism  :  that  this  union 
with  Him  is  the  power  of  Baptism,  and  that  from  this  union  so 
imparted  is  all  the  Christian's  strength  to  realize  Christian  duty.t 
"  It  is  not  here,"  says  St.  Chrysostom,!  "  as  in  the  other  Epistles, 
which  St.  Paul  divides  into  two,  appropriating  the  first  part  to  doc- 
trine, the  latter  to  moral  instruction  ;  but  he  here,  throughout,  min- 
gles the  two.  He  saith  here,  then,  that  there  are  two  puttings  to 
death,  and  two  deaths  :  that  the  one  was  wrought  by  Christ,  in  Bap- 
tism ;  but  that  the  other  must  take  place  through  our  subsequent 
diligence.     For  that  our  former  sins  were  buried,  was  of  His  gift ; 

*  So  even  the  ancient  Calvinistic  Divines,  in  their  sense,  "  In  the  very  be- 
ginning of  regeneration,  the  seal  whereof  is  Baptism,  man  is  merely  passive  ; 
whence,  also,  no  outward  act  is  required  of  a  man  who  was  to  be  circumcised 
or  baptized,  as  there  is  in  other  Sacraments,  but  only  passively  to  receive  it. 
Infants,  therefore,  are  equally  capable  of  this  Sacrament,  in  regard  to  its  main 
use,  as  adults."  Ames  Medull.  Theol.  L.  i.  c.  40.  Thes.  xiii.  quoted  by  Sur- 
ges, pp.  52,  3.  and  Bp.  Taylor,  Life  of  Christ.  Of  Baptizing  Infants,  ^  16.  t.  ii. 
p.  275.  "  If  it  be  objected,  that  to  the  new  birth  are  required  dispositions  of 
our  own,  which  are  to  be  wrought  by  and  in  them  that  have  the  use  of  reason : 
besides  that  this  is  wholly  against  the  analogy  of  a  new  birth,  in  which  the  per- 
son to  be  born  is  wholly  a  passive,  and  hath  put  into  him  the  principle,  that  in 
time  will  produce  its  proper  actions,"  &c. 

f  Whence  in  the  Syriac  Church,  where  this  passage  is  read  as  a  lesson  in 
the  office  of  Baptism,  in  thankfulness  for  the  heart-uplifting  privileges,  they 
closed  it  with  "  Halleluia." — Assem.  t.  ii.  p.  273,  add  t.  i.  p.  247. 

X  Ad  loc.  Horn.  xi.  ^  1,  2.  t.  ix.  p.  530,  ed.  Bened. 


82 

but  that  we,  after  Baptism,  should  remain  dead  to  sin,  must  be  the 
work  of  our  diligence,  although  here  also  our  very  chief  and  great 
support  comes  from  God.  For  Baptism  not  only  availeth  to  efface 
our  former  offences,  but  secures  us  also  against  future.  Seest  thou 
how  he  animateth  his  hearer,  taking  him  at  once  to  his  Lord,  and 
striving  to  show  him  how  like  he  has  been  made  to  Him  ?  He  saith 
not  also,  if  we  have  been  made  partakers  of  the  likeness  of  His 
death,  but  if  we  have  been  planted  ;  hinting,  by  the  name  planting, 
at  the  fruit  derived  to  us  therefrom.  For  as  His  body,  buried  in 
the  earth,  bore  for  fruit  the  salvation  of  the  world ;  so  ours,  also, 
buried  in  Baptism,  bore  fruit,  righteousness,  sanctification,  adoption, 
unnumbered  blessings,  and,  last  of  all,  shall  bear  that  of  the  resur- 
rection. Since,  then,  we  were  buried  in  water.  He  in  the  earth,  and 
we  in  respect  to  sin.  He  in  regard  to  the  body  :  therefore  he  saith  not, 
'  planted  with  Him  in  death,'  but  '  in  the  likeness  of  death.'  For 
each  was  death,  but  not  of  the  same  object.  Nor  doth  he  say  merely 
(v.  6.)  our  old  man  was  crucified,  but  was  'crucified  together,' 
bringing  Baptism  in  close  union  with  the  Cross.  He  saith  this  of 
every  man  (v.  7.),  that  '  he  who  is  dead  is  thenceforth  freed  from 
sinning,'  abiding  dead  ;  so  also  he  who  ascendeth  from  Baptism  ; 
for  since  he  hath  then  once  died,  he  ought  to  remain  throughout  dead 
to  sin.  If  then  thou  hast  died  in  Baptism,  remain  dead,"  And  so 
again,*  "  '  We  who  have  died  to  sin,  how  shall  we  live  any  longer  in 
it  ?'  What  is  diis  '  have  died  ?'g,ils  it,  that  as  far  as  it  is  concerned, 
we  have  all  renounced  it  ?t  or,  rather,  that  having  believed  and  been 
enlightened,"  [received  the  true  light, — been  baptized,]  "  we  have 
heeome  actually  dead  to  it  ?  which  the  sequel  shows.  But  what  is 
to  be  dead  to  it  ?  to  obey  it  no  longer.  For  this  Baptism  hath  done 
for  us  once  ;  it  deadened  us  to  it ;  but  for  the  rest,  by  our  own  earnest 
zeal  we  must  realize  this  constantly.  So  that,  though  it  issue  ten 
thousand  commands,  we  should  obey  it  no  longer,  but  remain  mo- 
tionless as  the  dead.  Elsewhere,  indeed,  he  says  that  sin  itself 
died ;  and  that,  to  show  how  easy  goodness  becometh  ;  but  here, 
wishing  to  rouse  the  hearer,  he  speaks  of  him  as  having  died.  As 
the  Death  of  Christ  in  the  flesh  was  real,  so  is  ours  to  sin  real ;  but 
although  it  is  real,  we  must  for  the  future  contribute  our  part."  St. 
Basil  also  speaks  at  large,  how  for  this  end,  not  mere  imitation  will 
suffice,  but  actual  conformation,  a  conformation  whereby  our  old  life, 
which  we  inherited  from  Adam,  should  be  broken  through,  and  a  new 
life,  derived  from  Christ,  implanted,  whereby  we  should  be  actually 
severed  from  our  old  stock  in  Adam,  and  engrafted  into  a  new  one  in 
Christ.     And  that  such  is   the  Christian's  privilege,  and  bestowed 

*  Horn.  X.  in  Rom.  p.  525. 

t  Alluding  to  the  universal  rite  of  "  renunciation  of  Satan,  the  world,  and 
the  flesh,"  in  Baptism. 


upon  him  through  Baptism,  he  proves  from  this  saying  of  the  apos- 
tle,* "  The  dispensation  of  our  God  and  Saviour  in  behalf  of  man  is  a 
calhng  him  upward  from  his  fall,  a  return  to  familiar  intercourse  with 
God  from  that  ahenalion  which  took  place  through  the  disobedience. 
To  this  end  was  the  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  flesh  ;  the  patterns  of 
evangehcal  life  ;  the  Passion  ;  the  Cross  ;  the  Burial ;  the  Resur- 
rection ;  so  that  man  being  saved  by  the  imitation  of  Christ,  might 
receive  again  that  ancient  adoption  of  sons.  To  the  perfection  then 
of  life,  there  is  needed  the  imitation  of  Christ,  not  only  of  the  gentle- 
ness, and  humility,  and  long-suffering,  displayed  in  His  Life,  but 
also  of  His  very  Death ;  as  St.  Paul  saith — he,  the  imitator  of 
Christ — '  being  conformed  to  His  death,  if  by  any  means  I  may 
attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.'  How  then  are  we  made  in 
the  likeness  of  His  death  ?  '  Having  been  buried  with  Him  through 
Baptism.'  What  then  is  the  mode  of  burial,  or  what  the  benefit  of 
the  imitation  ?  First,  it  is  necessary  that  the  course  of  the  former 
life  should  be  broken  through.  But  this  is  impossible,  unless  a  man 
be  born  again,  as  the  Lord  said.  For  the  re-generation  (as  the  name 
also  itself  implies,)  is  the  beginning  of  a  second  life  ;  so  that  be- 
fore we  begin  the  second,  an  end  must  be  put  to  the  preceding. 
Wherefore  the  Lord,  who  dispenseth  life  to  us,  gave  us  the  cove- 
nant of  Baptism,  containing  an  image  of  death  and  life — the  water 
fulfilling  the  image  of  death,  and  the  Spirit  giving  the  earnest  of  life. 
This  then  is  '  to  be  born  again  of  water  and  the  Spirit,'  our  death 
being  effected  in  the  water,  and  our  life  worked  in  us  by  the  Spirit. 
So  that  whatever  grace  there  is  in  the  water  is  nol  from  the  nature 
of  the  water,  but  from  the  presence  of  the  Spirit." 

In  the  union  also  with  Christ,  in  whose  Death  and  Life  they  were 
through  Baptism  engraffed,  the  elder  Christians  saw  with  the  Apos- 
tle the  pledge  of  their  resurrection.  "  Hast  thou  believed,"  says 
Chrysostom,t  "  that  Christ  died  and  rose  again,  believed  then  thine 
own.  For  this  is  like  to  it,  since  the  Cross  and  the  Burial  is  thine 
also ;  for  if  thou  hast  shared  with  Him  in  the  Death  and  the  Burial, 
much  more  shalt  thou  in  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life.  For  since 
the  greater,  that  is,  sin,  has  been  destroyed,  we  may  not  hesitate 
about  that  which  is  lesser,  the  destruction  of  death."  And  St.  Am- 
brose,J:  "  Naaman,  the  Syrian,  dipped  seven  times  under  the  law, 
but  thou  wert  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity.  Thou  confess- 
edst  the  Father,  recollect  what  thou  diddest ;  thou  confessedst  the 
Son ;  thou  confessedst  the  Holy  Ghost.  Hold  fast  the  order  of 
things  in  this  Faith.  Thou  diedst  to  sin,  and  rosest  again  to  God. 
And,  as  though  co-interred  with  Him  in  that  element  of  the  world, 
having  died  to  sin,  thou  wert  raised  again  to  hfe  eternal."  They 
were  not  accustomed,  in  our  lax  way,  to  look  upon  the  resurrection 

*  De  Spiritu.  S.  c.  15.  {  35.  fHom.  10.  in  Rom.  ^  i.     J  De  Myst.  ^  21.  c.  2. 


84 

to  life,  as  one  might  almost  say,  the  mere  natural  consequence  of 
our  escaping  condemnation,  that  since  our  natures  were  immortal, 
we  must  live  on  in  some  way,  and  since  we  were  rescued  from  mis- 
ery, therefore  in  bliss.  Eternal  life  was,  with  tlicm,  not  the  mere 
alternative  of  death,  or  the  necessary  result  of  forgiveness  ;  nor  was 
His  Resurrection  the  mere  making  known  of  God's  acceptance  of 
His  Sacrifice,  a  confirmation  of  our  faith,  an  outward  attestation  to 
the  fact  of  our  immortality,  an  evidence  or  earnest  of  our  Resurrec- 
tion. It  was  to  them  all  these,  but  it  was  more  ;  it  was  the  cause  of 
our  resurrection.  "  The  rocks  were  rent,"  when  the  atoning  Sacri- 
fice was  finished ;  the  bars  were  loosed,  and  they  seemed  to  hold 
their  prisoners  no  longer  ;  yet  it  was  not  until  "  after*  the  resurrec- 
tion^'' that  "  many  bodies  of  the  saints,  which  slept,  arose  and  came 
out  of  the  graves,  and  went  into  the  holy  city."  The  sacrifice  on 
the  Cross  perfected  our  redemption  to  Godward,  bvit  there  was  a  fur- 
ther act  to  complete  it  toward,  and  in  us.  "  He  was  delivered  for 
our  offences,"!  and  so  completed  the  atonement ;  but  "  He  was 
raised  again  for  our  justification,"  to  communicate  its  fruits  to  us. 
The  Resurrection  contains  a  ground  of  hope,  even  beyond  the 
Cross  ;|  "  It  is  God  thatjustifieth  ;  who  is  he  that  condemncth?  It 
is  Christ  that  died  ;  yea  rather  that  is  risen  again.'''' ^  Our  incarnate 
Lord  imparted  to  our  decayed  nature,  by  His  indwelling  in  it,  that 
principle  of  life  which,  through  Adam's  fal],  it  had  lost ;  and  when 
"  by  the  Spirit  of  Holiness,"  which  resided  in  Christ,  He  raised  it 
from  the  dead,  he  made  it  not  only  "  the  first  fruits,"  but  the  source 
of  our  resurrection,  by  communicating  to  our  nature  His  own  inhe- 
rent Life.  And  hence,  after  His  Resurrection,  His  Body,  though 
still  made  present  to  His  disciples,  for  the  confirmation  of  their  faith, 
was  already  of  aspiritual  nature,  notrecognized  by  His  own  disciples,|| 
appearing  in  different  forms,^  so  showing  that  this  outward  form 
was  but  an  accident  to  it ;  appearing  or  vanishing  out  of  sight,  with- 
out reference  to  material  obstacles  ;  and  whereas,  before.  He  show- 
ed indeed  by  His  miracles  that  He  was  the  Lord  of  nature,  yet  sub- 
jected Himself  to  His  own  laws,  which  He  had  given  it,  now  His 
Life  was  wholly  independent  of  them.  "  I,"  He  saith,"  "  /am  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Life  ;"  He  not  only  has  obtained,  purchased, 
wills,  bestows,  is  the  meritorious  cause  of,  our  Resurrection  ;  He 

*  Matt,  xxvii.  52,  53.  f  Rom.  iv.  25. 

X  "  It  had  not  been  enough  to  be  delivered  by  His  death,  except  by  His  Re- 
surrection we  had  been  endowed  with  righteousness.  Thus  hath  His  resur- 
rection wrought  for  us  hfe  and  righteousness.  He  died  to  destroy  the  rule  of 
the  devil  in  us,  and  He  rose  again  to  send  down  His  Holy  Spirit  to  rule  in  our 
hearts  ;  to  endow  us  with  perfect  righteousness." — Homily  on  the  Resurrec- 
tion. See  a  valuable  Commentary  on  this  Homily  in  Mr.  Newman's  Lectures 
on  Justification,  note  on  Lect.  vi. 

^  Rom.  viii.  34.     I  Luke  xxiv.  16.  John  xx.  14.  xxi.  24.     If  Mark  xvi.  12. 


85 

Himself  is  it ;  He  gives  it  us  not,  as  it  were,  from  without,  as  a 
possession,  as  something  of  our  own,  but  Himself  is  it  to  us  ;  He 
look  our  flesh,  that  He  might  vivify  it ;  He  dwelt  in  it,  and  obeyed 
in  it,  that  He  might  sanctify  it ;  He  raised  it  from  death  by  His 
quickening  Spirit  that  He  might  give  it  immortality.  The  "  first 
Adam"*  was  "  a  living  soul ;"  and  that  life  being  by  sin  lost,  "  the 
last  Adam  became  a  life-giving  Spirit."  And  we  in  His  Church 
being  incorporated  into  Him,  being  made  members  of  His  Body, 
flesh  of  His  Flesh,  and  bone  of  His  Bone,  through  His  Sacraments, 
partake  of  His  Life  and  Immortality,  because  we  partake  of  Him ; 
we  are  made  members  of  Him,  He  dwelleth  in  us,  and  is  our  Life ; 
"  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."!  As  in  His  transfiguration, 
that  inward  glory  which  dwelt  in  Him,  but  veiled  from  man's  sight, 
shone  through  and  illumined  His  countenance,  and  penetrated  the 
very  raiment  which  He  wore,  so  that  His  earthly  form  was  changed, 
so  "  are  we,"  His  Apostle  says,  transformed  or  "  transfigured]:  from 
glory  to  glory  as  by  the  Lord,  the  Spirit."  It  is  through  the  commu- 
nication of  that  life,  and  so  by  belonging  to  Him,  beingjoined  on  to 
Him,  that  as  many  as  live,  have  and  shall  have  their  life,  "/n^  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  "  Christ  the  first-fruits,  afterwards  they  that 
are  Christ's  [belong  to  Christ]  at  His  coming."  And  "that|i  I  might 
be  found  in  Him,  so  to  know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  Resurrec- 
tion, and  the  participation  of  His  sufferings,  being  conformed  to  His 
Death,  if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  to  the  Resurrection  of  the 
dead.''''  And  this  power  of  His  Resurrection  is  imparted  to  us 
through  Baptism.  "  Baptismal  saves  us,  through  the  Resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  as  applying  its  power  and  efficacy.  "  Having 
been**  buried  [co-interred]  with  Him  in  Baptism,  wherein  also  ye 
were  raised  together  with  Him,"  made  partakers  of,  joined  in.  His 
Resurrection.  "  Inasmuch, ft  then,  as  ye  were  raised  together  with 
Christ ;"  and  so  again  in  our  passage,  "  If  we  were  planted  in  the 
likeness  of  His  death,  we  shall  be  also  of  His  Resurrection."  And 
so,  after  the  confession  of  "  the  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of 
sins,"  there  follows  in  the  Creed  of  the  Universal  Church,  "  And  I 
look  for  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  life  of  the  world  to 
come."  Nor  is  it  without  significance  that  the  title  of  Regeneration, 
which  denotes  the  gift  in  our  Baptism,  or   our  second  birth,  is  used 

*  1  Cor.  xiv.  25. 

t  John  xiv.  19.  |  ^£ra^op(/)ot'/<£9a  (the  same  word.)  2  Cor.  iii.  18. 

^  1  Cor.  XV.  22,  23.  ||  Phil.  iii.  9—11. 

•[f  1  Pet.  iii.  21.  comp.  i.  3.  "Who  according  to  His  abundant  mercy  be- 
gat us  again  [gave  us  a  second  birth]  to  a  hving  hope,  through  the  Resurrection 
of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and 
that  fadeth  not  away." 

**  Col.  ii.  13.  ft  lb.  iii.  I. 


86 

once  more  in  Holy  Scripture,  by  our  Lord,*  to  designate  our  last 
perfected  birth  to  immortality,  when  "  death  shall  be  swallowed  up 
in  victory,"  whereof  this,  "  ourf  second,  or  rather  our  first  birth  in 
Christ,"  is  the  seed,  to  be  matured  in  this  life,  and  in  the  next  to  be 
developed  in  glory. 

This  connection  of  Baptism  with  our  Lord's  Resurrection,  and  that 
of  our  resurrection  from  sin,  then,  with  our  participation  in  His  Re- 
surrection, and  again  to  the  future  resurrection  of  the  saints  to  glory, 
with  all  these, — with  His  Resurrection  as  the  cause,  and  our  Bap- 
tism as  the  means,  and  our  resurrection  from  sin  as  the  earnest, — 
is  often  dwelt  upon  by  the  ancient  Church,  (as  contained  in  this 
teaching  of  St.  Paid,)  especially  in  reference  to  Easter,  as  the 
solemn  season  of  Baptism.  And  the  very  selection  of  this  period 
for  Baptism  shows  how  the  whole  Church  looked  upon  it,  not  as  a 
mere  outward  representation  or  correspondence,  but  as  a  reality  ; 
that  they  wished  to  bring  this  our  resurrection  from  sin  as  closely 
as  they  might  with  the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  the  "power"! 
whereof  it  was  to  transfuse  into  the  new  members  of  His  spiritual 
body.  Thus  St.  Chrysostom,^  "  In  Christ  there  was  but  one  death  ; 
for  He  sinned  not,  and  that  one  death  was  for  us  ;  for  He  owed  no 
death,  since  he  was  not  subject  to  sin,  and  so  neither  to  death ; 
wherefore  He  arose  from  the  one  death  ;  but  we,  having  died  a 
double  death,  arise  by  a  double  resurrection ;  one  at  that  time  from 
sin,  for  '  we  were  buried  with  Him  in  Baptism,'  and  '  raised  with 
Him'  by  Baptism.  This  is  one  resurrection,  the  delivery  from  sin; 
the  second  resurrection  is  of  the  body.  He  hath  given  the  greater; 
await  we  the  less  also  ;  for  this  is  far  greater  than  that ;  for  it  is  far 
greater  to  be  freed  from  sins,  than  to  see  a  body  raised.  The  body 
therefore  fell,  because  it  sinned  :  if  then  the  beginning  of  falhng  be 
sin,  the  beginning  of  rising  again  is  to  be  freed  from  sin.  We  have 
risen  the  greater  resurrection,  having  cast  away  the  sharp  death  of 
sin,  and  stripped  off  the  old  garment ;  despair  we  then  not  of  the 
less.  This  resurrection  we  too  long  since  rose,  when  we  were  bap- 
tized ;  and  they  who  yesterday  had  baptism  vouchsafed  to  them. 
Two  days  past  was  Christ  crucified,  but  in  the  night  past  He  arose; 
and  these  also  two  days  past  were  held  by  sin,  but  with  Him  rose 
again  ;  He  died  in  the  body,  and  rose  again  in  the  body  ;  but  these 
were  dead  through  sins,  but  having  been  freed  from  sins  rose  again." 
And  St.  Basil, II  "  What  can  be  more  akin  to  Baptism  than  this  day 
of  Easter  ?  For  the  day  is  the  day  of  the  Resurrection,  and  Bap- 
tism is  a  power  to  resurrection.     On  the  day  then  of  the  Resurrec- 

*  Matt.  xix.  28.  "  In  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit  in  the 
throne  of  His  glory." 

t  Jerome  Ep.  ad  Oceon.     J  Phil.  iii.  10.     ^  Adv.  ebrios.  et  de  resurr.  ^  4. 
II  Horn.  13.  in  S.  Bapt.  §  1,  2.  t.  ii.  pp.  114,  115. 


87 

tion  let  us  receive  the  grace  of  the  Resurrection.  Dost  thou  wor- 
ship Him  who  died  for  tliee  ?  Allow  thyself  then  to  be  buried  with 
Him  in  Baptism.  For  if  thou  be  not  planted  in  the  likeness  of  His 
death,  how  shalt  thou  be  partaker  of  His  Resurrection  ?"  St.  Leo* 
again,  assigning  the  ground  of  the  administration  of  Baptism  at 
Easier  :  "  Although  the  things  which  relate  to  the  humiliation  of 
Christ  and  those  which  pertain  to  His  glory,  meet  alike  in  One  and 
the  same  Person  ;  and  the  whole  as  well  of  Divine  Power,  as  of 
human  weakliness,  which  was  in  Him,  tend  to  work  out  our  resto- 
ration ;  yet  it  is  peculiarly  in  the  death  of  Christ  crucified,  and  His 
Resurrection  when  dead,  that  the  power  of  Baptism  maketh  the 
'  new  creature'  out  of  the  old,  so  that  in  those  re-born,  as  well  the 
Death  of  Christ  worketh  as  His  Life.  For  thus  the  blessed  Apos- 
tle saith,  'Know  ye  not  that  as  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into 
Jesus  Christ,  were  baptized  into  His  death  ?  For  we  were  buried 
with  Him  by  Baptism  unto  Death,  thai  like  as  Christ  rose  from  the 
dead,  through  the  glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  also  should  walk  in 
newness  of  lite.  For  if  we  have  been  planted  with  Him  into  the 
likeness  of  His  Death,  we  shall  be  also  of  His  Resurrection  ;'  as 
well  as  what  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  further  enlargeth  on,  to  set 
forth  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  ;  so  that  it  appears,  from  the  spirit 
of  this  doctrine,  that  for  regenerating  the  sons  of  men,  and  adopting 
them  for  sons  of  God,  that  day  and  that  time  was  chosen,  wherein 
through  the  very  likeness  and  form  of  the  mystery  those  things 
which  are  wrought  in  the  members,  might  agree  with  those  which 
took  place  in  the  Head ;  in  that,  according  to  the  prescribed  form 
of  Baptism,  a  death  intervenes,  by  the  putting  to  death  of  sin,  and 
the  threefold  immersion  copies  the  three  days  burial,  and  the  raising 
from  the  waters  was  a  copy  of  Him  rising  from  the  tomb." 

And  not  only  as  instruction  to  the  Church,  but  against  the  heretics 
who  denied  "the  resurrection  of  the  flesh,"  a  cogent  argument  was 
furnished  by  that,  wherein  because  it  takes  place  also  in  the  flesh, 
some  can  see  only  a  cardinal  ordinance.  Since  the  flesh  also  had  its 
share  in  Baptism,  and  the  Apostle  said,  "  we,"  our  whole  selves, 
*'  were  therein  buried  in  the  Death  of  our  Lord,  that  we  might  be 
partakers  of  His  Resurrection,"  then  will  our  flesh  also  partake  of 
that  Resurrection ;  and  thus  in  the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  God, 
not  only  was  our  flesh  restored,  but  we  had  an  earnest  and  pledge 
of  its  full  restitution.  "Thus,"  says  Turtullian,t  "  throughout  this 
whole  series  of  sayings,  while  he  scparateth  our  members  from  un- 
righteousness and  offence,  and  joineth  them,  to  righteousness  and  holi- 
ness, and  transfers  them  from  the  ways  of  sin  to  the  gift  of  eternal  life, 
he  holds  out  to  the  flesh  also  the  recompense  of  salvation  ;  for  it  had 
been  no  way  s  consistent,  to  enjoin  it  its  own  peculiar  discipline  of  righte- 

*  Epist.  16.  c.  3.  f  De  Resurr.  Carnis,  c.  47. 


88 

ousness  and  holiness,  unless  it  had  also  in  store  a  reward  for  that  dis- 
cipline ;  no,  nor  might  Baptism  itself  have  been  bestowed  upon  it, 
unless  by  regeneration  it  also  were  inaugurated  to  restoration  ;  which 
also  the  Apostle  impresses,  "  Know  ye  not  that  all  we  who  have  been 
baptized  into  Christ  Jesus,  were  baptized  into  his  death.'  There- 
fore we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death  :  that,  like  as 
Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even 
so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life.'  " 

The  same  text,  which,  pressed  on  the  one  side,  yielded  an  argu- 
ment against  these,  when  examined  with  the  same  strictness,  on  an- 
other, refuted  the  Pelagian  heretics  ;  showing  how  right  exposition  is 
at  variance  with  all  heresy,  and  a  fuller  and  more  literal  apprehension 
of  Scripture  is  at  the  same  time  a  shield  against  doctrinal  error.  St. 
Augustine  continually  cites  this  passage  against  the  Pelagians,  in  proof 
that  *'  infants  are  cleansed  from  original  sin  by  regeneration,"  (ab 
originali  peccato  parvulos  regeneratione  mundari,)  and  that  because 
St.  Paul  asserts,  that  all,  without  exception,  who  have  been  baptized 
in  Christ,  have  been  baptized  in  his  Death,  i.  e.  have  died  an  actual 
death  to  sin  :  all  infants,  therefore,  must  have  died  to  sin  ;  otherwise 
Christ  had  not  died  for  them,  which  no  one  would  say.  "  After*  the 
Apostle  had  spoken  of  the  punishment  through  one,  and  the  free 
grace  through  One,  as  much  as  he  thought  sufficient  for  that  part  of 
his  epistle,  he  then  recom.mended  the  great  mystery  of  holy  Baptism 
in  the  Cross  of  Christ  in  this  way,  that  we  should  understand  that 
Baptism  in  Christ  is  nothing  else  than  the  likeness  of  the  Death  of 
Christ,  and  the  Death  of  Christ  crucified  nothing  else  than  the  like- 
ness of  the  remission  of  sins  ;  that  as  in  Him  there  was  a  real  Death, 
so  in  us  a  real  remission  of  sins ;  and  as  in  Him  a  real  Resurrection, 
so  in  us  a  real  justification. — If  then  we  are  proved  to  be  dead  to  sin, 
because  we  are  baptized  in  the  Death  of  Christ,  then  do  the  little 
ones  also,  who  are  baptized  in  Christ,  die  to  sin,  because  they  are 
baptized  in  His  Death.  For  it  is  said  without  exception,  '  so  many 
of  us  as  are  baptized  in  Christ  Jesus,  are  baptized  in  His  Death.' 
And  this  is  said,  to  prove  that  we  are  '  dead  to  sin.'  Yet  to  what  sin 
do  the  little  ones  die,  by  being  born  again,  but  to  that  which  they  con- 
tracted by  being  born  ?  And  thereby  also  pertains  to  them  what  follows 
(vv.  4 — 11.)  'that  their  old  man  is  crucified  with  Him — that  they  are 
dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.' — He  saith  then  to  those  baptized  in  the  Death  of  Christ,  in 
which  not  the  elder  only,  but  the  little  ones  also  are  baptized,  '  So  do 
ye,' — i.  e.  so  as  Christ, — '  so  do  ye  think  that  ye  are  dead  unto  sin,  and 
alive  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus.'  " 

It  will  have  appeared  incidentally,  that  these  appeals  to  Baptism 
contained  in  them  the  appeal  to  Christian  newness  of  hfe,  (which 
alone  moderns  have  seen  in  this  passage,)  and  that  the  more  forcibly, 

*  Encheirid.  c.  52.  t.  vi.  pp.215,  216.     See  further  (C)  at  the  end. 


89 

since  they  were  founded  upon  what  had  been  done  for  each  Christian, 
and  in  him;  Christians  were  exhorted  to  the  carrying  on  of  "the 
good  work,  which  had  been  begun  (not  by  them,  but)  in  them." — 
"  What,"  saith  St.  Basil,*  "  belongeth  to  him  who  hath  been  born  of 
water  ?"  That  as  Christ  died  to  sin  once,  so  he  also  should  be  dead 
and  motionless  towards  all  sin;  as  it  is  written,  'as  many  as  have  been 
baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  have  been  baptized  into  his  death.'"  " The 
very  mystery  of  Baptism,"  says  Theodoret,t  "taught  thee  to  flee  from 
sin.  For  Baptism  hath  an  image  of  the  Death  of  the  Lord ;  for  in  it 
hadst  thou  communion  with  Christ,  both  of  Death  and  Resurrec- 
tion. It  beseems  thee  then  to  live  a  new  kind  of  life,  and  conform- 
able to  Him,  with  whom  thou  hast  shared  the  Resurrection. |  Thou 
deniedst  sin,  and  becamest  dead  to  it,  and  wast  buried  with  Clurist, 
how  then  shouldest  thou  admit  again  that  sin?"  Nay,  this  appeal  be- 
comes the  more  forcible,  just  on  the  ground  upon  which  moderns 
shrink  from  the  reception  of  the  doctrine,  that  all  had  received,  and 
that,  therefore,  all  had  somewhat  to  lose.§  They  were  not  in  the  po- 
sition of  men  called  for  the  first  time  to  take  upon  them  a  certain 
course,  and  promised  an  ulterior  reward  ;  rather,  they  had  received 
already  an  inestimable  gift,  and  this  gift  they  were  to  keep  and  guard. 
We  speak  familiarly  of  "having  a  stake,"  as  giving  a  person  a  greater 
interest  in  things  ;  we  look  upon  a  person  being  born  already  with 
certain  temporal  advantages,  as  birth,  station,  ancient  family,  repu- 
tation of  parents,  well-conducted  ancestry,  as  a  ground  the  more  why 
he  should  be  diligent  to  keep  them  ;  much  more,  when  a  person  has 
any  thing  of  his  own,  a  good  name,  an  even  course  of  life,  or  the 
like.  This  instinctive  feeling  of  watching  the  more  heedfully  over 
that  which  they  had,  was  seen  by  the  ancient  Church  to  be  called 
into  action  by  St.  Paul,  only  heightened  by  the  inestimable  greatness 
of  that  gift,  and  purified  by  its  awful  holiness.  "  It  is  plain,"  says 
St.  Ambrose, II  "that  this"  [that  'no  unclean  person,  nor  covetous 

*  Moralia,  Reg.  80.  c.  22.  t.  ii.  p.  317.  f  Ad  loc  v.  4.  |ib.  v.  3, 
^  In  the  Homily  on  the  Resurrection,  this  line  of  appeal,  from  v^hich  moderns 
shrink,  is  forcibly  used,  "  WHiat  a  shame  were  it  for  us,  being  thus  so  freely 
and  clearly  washed  from  our  sins,  to  return  to  the  filthiness  thereof  again ! — 
What  a  folly  were  it,  thus  endowed  with  righteousness,  to  lose  it  again !  What 
madness  were  it  to  lose  the  inheritance,  that  we  be  now  set  in,  for  the  vile  and 
transitory  pleasure  of  sin  !  What  unkindness  should  it  be,  when  our  Saviour, 
Christ  of  His  mercy  is  come  to  us,  to  dwell  within  us  as  our  guest,  to  drive 
Him  from  us,  and  to  banish  Him  violently  out  of  our  souls  ;  and  instead  of 
Him  in  Whom  is  all  grace  and  virtue,  to  receive  the  ungracious  spirit  of  the 
devil,  the  founder  of  all  naughtiness  and  mischief!  How  can  we  find  in 
our  hearts  to  show  such  extreme  unkindness  to  Christ,  which  hath  so  gently 
called  to  mercy,  and  offered  Himself  unto  us,  and  He  now  entered  within 
us  T  Yea,  how  dare  we  be  so  bold  to  renounce  the  Presence  of  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  (for  where  One  is,  there  is  God  all  whole  in 
Majesty,  together  with  all  His  power,  wisdom  and  goodness,)  and  fear  not,  I 
say,  the  danger  and  peril  of  so  traitorous  a  defiance  and  departure  ]" 
II  Ep.  63.  Eccl.  Vercell.  ^  11,  12.  t.  ii.  p,  1025. 


00^ 

man,  which  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  and  of  God,']  "  is  said  of  baptized  persons  ;  for  they  receive 
the  inheritance,  who  are  baptized  in  the  death  of  Christ,  and  are  buried 
with  Him,  that  they  may  rise  with  him.  Therefore,  they  are  '  heirs 
of  God,  joint-heirs  with  Christ ;'  *  heirs  of  God,'  because  the  grace  of 
God  is  transcribed  into  them;  'co-heirs  with  Christ,'  because  they 
are  renewed  into  His  Life  ;  heirs  also  of  Christ,  because  through 
His  Death,  as  of  a  testator,  the  inheritance  is  given  them.  They  then 
ought  more  to  take  heed  to  themselves,  who  have  ivhat  they  may  lose, 
than  they  who  have  it  not.  They  must  act  with  greater  watchfulness, 
must  avoid  the  inticements  of  vices,  the  provocations  to  sins,  espe- 
cially such  as  arise  from  meat  and  drink.  Lastly,  '  the  people  sat 
down  to  eat  and  drink,  and  rose  up  to  play.'  "  "  Recollect,"  says  St. 
Jerome,  "  that  day  of  thy  commencing  warfare,  wherein  '  buried  with 
Christ  in  baptism,'  thou  swarest  into  that  words  of  that  sacramental 
oath." 

We  need  no  testimony  from  later  writers  ;  yet  it  is  remarkable 
that  even  Calvin,  as  a  commentator,  forgetting,  for  a  while,  his  dread, 
lest  men  should  rest  in  their  Baptism,  says,  "  St.  Paul  proves  what 
he  had  just  said,  namely,  that '  Christ  slays  sin  in  those  who  are  His,' 
from  the  effect  of  Baptism.  Know  we  then  that  the  Apostle  does 
not  here  merely  exhort  us  to  imitate  Christ,  as  if  he  said,  that  the 
death  of  Christ  was  a  pattern  which  all  Christians  should  imitate. 
Assuredly  he  goes  deeper  ;  and  brings  forward  a  doctrine,  on  which 
afterwards  to  found  exhortation  ;  and  this  is,  that  the  death  of  Christ 
has  power  to  extinguish  and  abolish  the  corruption  of  our  flesh, 
and  His  resurrection,  to  raise  up  in  us  the  newness  of  a  better  life  ; 
and  that  by  Baptism  we  are  brought  into  the  participation  of  this 
grace."  And  again,  on  the  word  "  planted,"  he  observes, — "  Great 
IS  the  emphasis  of  this  word,  and  it  clearly  shows,  that  the  Apostle 
is  not  merely  exhorting,  but  is  rather  teaching  us  of  the  goodness  of 
Christ.  For  he  is  not  requiring  any  thing  of  us,  which  may  be  done 
by  our  zeal  or  industry,  but  sets  forth  a  grafl5ng-in,  effected  by  the 
hand  of  God.  For  graffing-in  implies  not  merely  a  conformity  of 
life,  but  a  secret  union,  whereby  we  become  one  with  Him  ;  so  that 
quickening  us  by  His  Spirit,  He  transfuses  His  power  into  us.  So 
then,  as  the  graft  shares  life  and  death  with  the  tree  into  which  it  is 
graffed,  so  are  we  partakers  of  the  Life  no  less  than  the  Death  of 
Christ." 

L  2.  St.  Paul  tells  the  Galatians  (iii.  27,  28.) 

"  For  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ. 
There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if  ye  be  Christ's 
then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise.*" 

*  The  section  containing  this  passage,  Gal.  iii.  24 — fin.  is  a  lesson  in  the 


9\ 

Here  again  what  most  Christians  would  now  learn  from  the  passage 
would  be  the  necessity  of  being  conformed  to  Christ's  life,  of  living 
consistently  with  our  Christian  profession.  And  the  like  words  are, 
indeed,  elsewhere  used  in  a  Christian  law;  "  Put*  ye  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  make  no  provision  for  the  flesh,  to  fulfil  the  lusts 
thereof."  And  so  in  other  places  of  Scripture,  we  are  bid  to  do  that, 
perseveringly,  which  has  been  done  for  us.  "  Lighten  mine  eyes, 
O  Lord,  that  I  sleep  not  in  death,"  prays  the  Psalmist,!  "Awake, 
thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  death,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light,"  comes  as  an  answer.^  And  so,  what  in  the  Galatians  we  are 
told  has  been  in  Baptism  done  for  us,  the  Romans,  who  had  been 
baptized,  he  bids  do  for  themselves.  We  are  first  clothed  upon  by 
Him,  and  when  we  have  been  thus  clothed,  the  blessing^  is  pro- 
nounced upon  "  him  that  watcheth,  and  keepeth  his  garments  lest  he 

Armenian  Baptismal  service,  and  closed  with  Halleluia.  (Ass.  ii.  196,  206,) 
and  v.  23 — fin.  in  the  Syriac  Liturgy  oi  Jerusalem.  (lb.  ii.  249.)  Allusion  to 
it  is  made  in  a  Syriac  hymn,  used  in  the  Liturgy  of  Severus  (lb.  299.)  see  be- 
low, p.  113,)  and  the  words  aiechaunted  in  the  Greek.  (lb.  ii.  148.)  And  in 
the  Armenian  again,  it  seems  a  sort  of  Hymn,  in  which  it  is  recited  during  the 
washing  of  the  infant's  body  in  water  after  Baptism,  "  '  Ye  who  have  been 
baptized  in  Christ  have  put  on  Christ,'  Alleluia.  Ye  who  have  been  enlight- 
ened in  the  Father,  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  rejoice  in  you."  (lb.  ii.  201,  20.) 
Reference  also  is  made  to  it  in  the  Latin,  in  that  the  following  verse,  which  de- 
pends upon  it,  is  alluded  to  in  the  prayer  for  the  consecration  of  the  font.  (Sa- 
cramentary  of  Gelassius) — "  that  a  heavenly  progeny  may  arise  (out  of  the 
font,)  conceived  through  sanctitication  from  the  immaculate  womb  of  the  Di- 
vine fountain,  re-born  into  a  new  creature,  and  that  those  whom  sex  distin- 
guished in  a  body,  or,  in  time,  age,  Grace  riiay,  as  a  mother,  give  birth  to  all 
into  one  infant  state ;"  ["  there  is  neither  male  nor  female,  for  ye  are  all  one  in 
Christ  Jesus."  v.  28.]  In  the  old  GaZZican  consecration  of  the  font,  it  is  directly 
quoted,  (ib.  ii.  3.  Sacramentary  of  Gellon  ib.  p.  53.)  "  let  those  who  are  defiled 
by  sins,  be  unclothed  of  them ;  and,  by  their  departure,  be  there  put  on  a  gar- 
ment of  light,  and  clothing  of  immortality  ;  "  whosoever  shall  be  baptized  in 
Christ,  let  them  put  on  Christ.' "  (Ib.  ii.  38.)  The  same  text  is  doubtless  the 
origin  of  the  rite  in  the  old  Gallican,  Gothic,  Roman,  Ambrosian,  Syrian, 
Greek  Liturgies,  and  in  our  own  previous  to  the  alteration  in  Edward  VI.  2d 
book,  of  putting  on  a  white  vestment  after  Baptism  (a  rite  which  is  still  re- 
tained, though  in  a  disguised  form,  in  that  children  are  baptized  in  white.) — 
With  this  text  an  allusion  to  the  wedding-garment  was  combined,  as  in  the 
Syriac  hymn  above,  where  there  follows,  "be  united  with  His  kindred — for 
He  is  of  great  kindred,  as  it  is  said  in  His  parable."  The  text  is  referred  to 
in  another  Syriac  hymn,  just  preceding  the  Baptism,  "In  the  faith  of  the 
Trinity,  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  are  ye  anointed,  ye  spiritual 
lambs  :  that  from  the  water  ye  may  put  on  the  robe  of  glory."  (Ib.  ii.  225.) 
TurtuUian  incorporates  it  remarkably  in  his  language  :  "  Yea,  since  Paul 
alone  of  them  [the  Apostles]  put  on  the  Baptism  of  Christ."  De  Bapt.  c.  12. 
p.  228. 

*  Rom.  xiii.  14.  f  Ps.  xiii.  3. 

X  Quoted  Eph.  v.  14.  These  are  so  united  by  Bishop  Cosins,  Devotions,  p 
10,  11.  ed.  xi. 

j  Rev.  xvi.  15. 


92 

walk  naked."  Our  shame  wliich'we  contracted  in  Adam's  fall  is  first 
hidden,  and  our  garment  of  immortality*  and  righteousness  more  than 
restored  by  being  made  members  of  Christ,  and  then  we  are  bidden, 
"buy  of  Me  white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that 
the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do  not  appear."!  Yet  this  does  not 
hinder  that  the  gift  which  is  to  be  retained  by  our  diligence  and 
dependence  upon  the  Giver,  was  originally  given.  A  gift  of  God 
implies,  that  we  should  keep  it,  use  it,  not  waste  it :  and  so  Chris- 
tian duty  is  implied  here,  but  only  because  such  ought  never  to  be 
the  result  of  Christian  grace.X  The  main  great  truth  again  relates 
to  our  privileges.  For  St.  Paul  is  proving  that  Christians  are  "  no 
longer  under  the  law."  And  this  he  shews,  in  that  the  law  was  "  a 
schoolmaster  to  bring  them  unto  Christ."  But  now  they  were  no 
longer  under  a  schoolmaster,  for  they  had  been  freed  from  the  bon- 
dage of  the  law,  in  that  they  had  been  made  children  of  God; 
"  We  are  all  the  children  of  God  through  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (as 
he  elsewhere  more  explicitly  contrasts  the  bondage  of  the  law,  and 
the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God,  "For  ye  have  not  received  the  spirit 
of  bondage  again  to  fear  ;  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption, 
whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father."  Rom.  viii.  15.)  And  this  our 
sonship  to  God,  again,  he  proves  through  our  Baptism :  '^for,"^  he 
says,  "  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  put 
on  Christ."  Not  only  the  words,  but  the  argument  ought  to  be 
heeded  :  it  is  not  only  to  be  accounted  for,  that  the  Apostle  says, 
"  as  many  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ," 
but  that  he  says,  "for  as  many  as  have  ;"  so  that  the  "having  put  on 
Christ  by  Baptism"  is  the  means  whereby  they  had  become  the  sons 

*  See  Bishop  Bull,  on  the  State  of  Man  before  the  Fall.  Newman  on  Jus- 
tification :  Lect.  7. 

t  Rev.  iii.  8. 

J  Hence  the  Fathers  often  argue  from  Rom.  xiii.  14,  as  containing  altogether 
the  same  doctrine  ;  and  rightly,  since  the  Apostle  could  not  have  bid  them, 
"put  on  Christ"  of  themselves,  nor  unless  they  had  previously  been  clad  with 
Him,  by  an  act  of  God.  Thus  St.  Jerome  ''  The  '  clothing  of  kings'  sons,  and 
the  garment  of  princes,'  is  Christ,  which  we  receive  in  Baptism,  according  to 
that,  'Put  ye  on  Christ  Jesus,'  (Rom.  xiii.  14.)  and  '  Put  ye  on  the  bowels  of 
mercy,  goodness,  humbleness,  meekness,  patience,'  &c.  wherein  we  are  en- 
joined to  be  clothed  with  the  new  man  from  heaven,  after  our  Creator.  When 
then  we  ought  to  be  clothed  with  such  garments,  for  mercy  we  are  clothed 
with  cruelty  ;  for  patience  with  impatience  ;  for  righteousness  with  iniquity  ; 
in  a  word,  for  virtues  with  vices  ;  i.  e.  for  Christ  with  antichrist  ;  whence  it  is 
said  of  such  an  one,  "he  clothed  himself  with  cursing  as  with  a  garment."  In 
Soph.  i.  9. 

^  Even  Pelagius  saw,  and  expressed  warmly,  because  truly,  this  connection 
of  the  argument  with  Baptism,  "  Being  clothed  with  the  Son  of  God,  and  being 
wholly  made  members  of  Him,  ye  must  needs  be  sons  of  God ;  what  then  have 
ye  to  do  with  the  law,  which  was  given  to  slaves  and  sinners,  you  to  whom  by 
Baptism  sins  have  been  remitted  V — Ad  loc. 


93 

of  God,  or  contains  in  itself  the  privilege  of  being  such ;  and  this 
might  alone  show,  that  the  being  clothed  with  Christ  is  the  gift  of 
God,  and  not  any  quality  in  man,  (except  as  His  gift  involves  qualities 
as  its  consequence  ;)  for  no  quality  in  man  can  make  him  a  son  of 
God.  He  only  can  be  a  son  of  God  whom  God  adopts  as  such;  nor 
does  God  regard  any  as  His  sons,  in  consequence  of  any  thing  in 
them  ;  but  first  makes  them  His  sons,  that  as  His  sons  they  may  do 
things  well-pleasing  to  Him.  But  the  words  thus  acquire  a  very- 
awful  meaning ;  for  if  the  having  put  on  Christ,  the  being  clothed 
with  Him,  makes  us  sons  of  God,  then  it  makes  us  so,  in  that  we  are 
made  "  members  of  Christ :"  and  "  sons  of  God,"  because  members 
of  His  Ever-Blessed  Son  ;  i.  e.  whoever  of  us  has  been  baptized,  was 
thereby  incorporated  into  Christ,  and  so  being  made  a  portion  and 
member  of  the  Son  of  God,  partakes  of  that  sonship,  and  is  himself  a 
child  of  God  :  so  that  henceforth  the  Father  looks  upon  him,  not  as 
what  he  is  in  himself,  but  as  in,  and  a  part  of  His  Well-beloved  Son, 
and  loves  him  with  a  portion  of  that  ineffable  love  with  which  He 
loves  His  Son. 

Theodoret  concisely  explains  the  Apostle's  argument,  "having 
said  that  '  ye  are  all  sons  of  God,'  he  teaches  also  how  they  obtained 
this,  and  says,  '  ye  have  put  on  Christ,'  Him  who  is  truly  the  Son  of 
God  ;  but  having  put  Him  on,  well  may  ye  be  called  sons  of  God." 
And  so  St.  Chrysostom,*  "  And  now  he  shows  that  they  are  sons  not  of 
Abraham  only,  but  of  God  also  ;  'for  ye  are  all  sons  of  God  through 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus' — through  faith,  not  through  the  law. 
And  then,  since  this  is  a  great  and  wonderful  thing,  he  names  also 
the  mode  of  their  adoption,  '  for  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  bap- 
tized into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ.'  And  why  saith  he  not,  'for  as 
many  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  been  born  of  God  ?'  for 
so  had  he  proved  more  directly  that  they  were  sons.  He  saith  this 
in  a  way  much  more  awfully  great.  For  since  Christ  is  the  Son  of 
God,  and  thou  has  put  Him  on,  having  the  Son  in  thyself,  and  being 
transformed  into  His  likeness,  thou  hast  been  brought  into  one  kin- 
dred and  one  species  with  him."  "  Descend,"  it  is  said  in  a  Syriac 
baptismal  hymn,t  "  descend,  our  brother,  who  art  sealed,  and  be 
clothed  with  our  Lord ;  and  be  united  with  His  kindred."  St.  Paul 
speaks  then  not  of  duties,  (though  every  privilege  involves  a  duty 
corresponding,)  but  of  privileges,  inestimable,  inconceivable,  which 
no  thought  can  reach  unto,  but  which  all  thoughts  should  aim  at  em- 
bracing,— our  union  with  God  in  Christ,  wherein  we  were  joined  in 
Holy  Baptism.  And  so  again  we  may  see  how  the  foolishness  of 
God,  in  what  men  call  carnal  ordinances,  is  wiser  than  man  ;  and 
how  a  false  spirituality,  by  disparaging  the  outward  ordinance,  loses 

*  Ad  loc.  t.  X.  p.  704.  ed.  Ben. 
t  Assem.  cod.  Lit.  T.  2.  p.  237. 


94 

sight  of  the  immensity  of  the  inward  grace  ;  and  holding  hghtly  by 
God's  appointment,  as  being  "  legal,"  does  thereby  fall  back  into 
mere  legality.  God  gave  adoption  and  union  with  Himself  in  Christ 
through  the  Spirit ;  men  disregarding  His  ordmance,  have  found  but 
a  law. 

The  succeeding  verse   carries    on  the   argument,  at   the  same 
time  that  it  joins  on  with  other  Scripture  ;    "  There  is  in  him  i"'^" '"') 
neither  Jew  nor   Greek ;  there  is  in  Him  neither  slave  nor  free ; 
there  is  in  Him  neither  male  nor  female ;  for  ye  are  all  one  (one 
being,  ^'0  in  Christ  Jesus."     For  it  brings  out  the  more  clearly  how 
the  "  being  clothed  with   Christ,"  is  the  same  as  being  "  in  Christ 
Jesus  ;"  and  it  connects  both  with  that  His  mystical  body,  His 
Church,  wherein  all  differences  of  nation  or  circumstance  or  sex  dis- 
appear, in  so  far  as  all  are  made  one  through  the  indwelling  of  Christ 
by   His   Spirit,  by  Whom  all  are   "  one  i'^"),   as  the  Father  in  the 
Son,  and  the  Son  in  the  Father,  so  they  are  one  in  the  Father  and 
the  Son,"  through  the  Spirit.  (John  xvii.  21.)     So,  then,  now  it  ap- 
pears, that  they  who  are  baptized  into  Christ,  are  made  members  of 
the  body  of  Christ ;  are  joined  on  by  a  m.ystical  union  with  Him 
their  Head;  are  one  mystical  body,  one  with  another,  by  being  in 
Him  ;  are  in  Him,  by  being  clothed  upon  by  Him  ;  and  so  are  sons 
of  God  by  being  members  of  Him.     And  thus  the  several  expressions 
give  reality   one  to  another,  and  what  is  figurative,  and  its  meaning 
at  first  sight  might  be  doubtful,  (as  the  "  putting  on  Christ")  is  seen 
to  be  a  reality  :  for,  seeing  we   are  in  Him,  then  the   "  putting  on 
Christ"  is  a  spiritual  reality,  the  being  encompassed,  surrounded, 
invested  with  Him  (as  a  body  is  with  a  garment  ;*)  and  it  is,  again, 
the  more  real,  in  that  it  is  the  source  of  a  blessed  reality,  the  being 
sons  of  God,  by  being  in  Him,  or  members  of  Him,  in  His  Divine 
nature,  God  the  Son.     And  so,  also,  it  appears  how  "  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus"  (v.  26.)  we  become  sons  of  God,  in  that  through  that 
faith  we  are  admitted  to  that  Sacrament,  wherein  He  makes  us 
members  of  Himself.     And  so  again  we  see  the  more,  the  force  of 
those  words  by  which  St.  Paul  so  frequently  describes  our  Christian 
privileges,  the  being  "  m  Christ."     "  Who  were  in  Christ  before 
me,"  (Rom.  xvi.  7.)  "  we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,"  (ib, 
xii.  5.)  "alive  unto  God,  in   Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,"  (ib.  vi,  11.) 
"  there  is' therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  Christ 

*  ^'  Christ  Himself  is  the  garment  and  robe,  floating  in  the  water,  which 
clothes  many,  and  tarries  for  a  countless  multitude,  and  fails  not.  But  lest 
any  say  that  I  do  rashly  in  calling  the  Son  of  God  a  garment,  let  him  read  the 
Apostle  saying,  '  Whoever  of  you  have  been  baptized  in  the  Name  of  Christ 
have  put  on  Christ.'  0  Robe  !  ever  one  and  unchanging ;  which  clothes 
becomingly  all  ages  and  forms,  fits  itself  to  the  stature  of  infants,  yet  unfolds 
full-grown  men,  nor  is  changed  to  array  females." — Optat.  de  Schism.  Donat. 
L.  5.  V.  fin. 


95 

Jesus,"  (viii.  1.)  "to  them  who  have  been  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus," 
(1  Cor.  i.  2.)  *'ye  are  of  Him  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (ver.  30.)  "  I  could 
not  speak  unto  you  as  spiritual,  but  as  unto  carnal,  as  babes,  in 
Christ,"  (ib.  iii.  1.)  "m  Christ  Jesus  have  I  begotten  you  through 
the  Gospel,"  (ib.  iv.  15.)  "those  who  have  fallen  asleep  in  Christ," 
(xv.  18.)  "  as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive," 
(ver.  22.)  "  so  then  if  any  be  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature,"  (2  Cor. 
V.  17.)  "I  knew  a  man  in  Christ,"  (xii.  2.)  "I  was  unknown  by 
face  to  the  Churches  of  Judea,  which  are  in  Christ,"  (Gal.  i.  22.) 
"  the  liberty  which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (ii.  4.)  "  but  if  seeking 
to  be  justified  in  Christ,"  (ii.  17.)  "2/2  Christ  Jesus,  neither  circum- 
cision availeth  any  thing,  nor  uncircumcision,"  (Gal.  v.  6.  vi.  15.) 
"  to  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Eph.  i.  1.)  "  Who  blessed  us  in 
all  spiritual  blessing  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ,  according  as  He 
chose  us  in  Him, — having  predestinated  us  to  the  adoption  of  sons, 
through  Jesus  Christ  unto  Himself — to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of 
His  grace,  wherein  He  hath  made  us  accepted  in  the  Beloved  ;  in 
whom  we  have  redemption — according  to  His  good  pleasure,  which 
He  purposed  in  Him — to  gather  under  one  head  all  things  in  Christ, 
both  those  in  heaven,  and  those  in  earth,  in  Him,  in  Whom  also  we 
w^ere  chosen,  in  Whom  ye  also,  having  believed  also,  were  sealed," 
(i.  3-13.)  "  having  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and  placed  Him  on 
His  own  right  hand  in  heavenly  places, — and  as,  being  dead  in  sins, 
did  He  quicken  together  with  Christ,  and  raised  together,  and  placed 
together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (i.  20.  ii  5.)  "  we  are 
His  workmanship,  having  been  created  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (ver.  10.) 
"but  now,  in  Christ  Jesus,  ye  who  before  were  afar  oif  have  been 
made  nigh,"  (ver.  13.)  "to  the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Phil.  i.  1.) 
"  I  can  do  all  things  in  Christ,  Who  strengtheneth  me,"  (iv.  13.) 
"  my  God  shall  fulfil  all  your  needs,  acccording  to  His  riches  in  glory 
in  Christ  Jesus,"  (ver.  19.)  "  to  the  faithful  brethren  in  Christ,"  (Col. 
i.  2.)  "that  we  may  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus," 
(ver.  28.)  "  the  Churches  of  God,  which  are  in  Judea  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  (I  Thess.  ii.  14.)  "the  dead  in  Christ,"  (iv.  16.)  "all  who 
will  five  godly  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (2  Tim.  iii.  12.)  "my  fellow-prisoner 
in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Philem.  23.) ;  and  not  St.  Paul  only,  but  St.  Peter 
and  St.  John,  or  rather  the  Holy  Ghost  in  all,  declares,  as  by  one 
mouth,  in  the  same  way,  our  awful  privilege  ;  for  so  St.  Peter  also, 
"  the  God  of  all  grace,  who  has  called  us  to  His  eternal  glory  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  (1  Pet.  v.  10.)  and  "  Peace  be  with  you  all  who  are 
in  Christ  Jesus ;"  (ver.  14.)  and  St.  John,  "  We  are  in  Him  that  is 
true,  in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ."  (1  John  v.  20.) 

If  in  the  one  or  other  of  these  passages,  taken  by  themselves,  the 
force  of  this  language  would  have  been  less  distinct,  yet  in  these,  as 
also  in  others  which  might  be  added,  it  is  determined  by  the  evidence 


96 

of  the  plainer  passages,  and  by  the  hght,  which  they  all  collectively, 
mutually  cast  upon  and  received  from  each  other. 

It  is  not  in  vain  that  this  language  recurs  so  frequently,*  on  so 
many  difi'erent  occasions,  with  different  modifications  of  meaning  or 
of  application,  sometimes  bringing  more  prominently  the  relation  to 
our  Lord  Himself;  at  olhei's,  our  individual  connection  with  Him 
tlu'ough  His  Church ;  at  others,  our  relation  through  Him  to  the 
Father ;  at  others,  His  gifts  in  us,  or  the  degree  in  which  we  sever- 
ally continue  in  Him,  as  we  have  profited  by  His  gifts,  and  are  ruled 
by  His  Spirit ;  but  still  one  and  the  same  fundamental  doctrine  in 
all,  that  we  are  "  in  Him  ;"  of  course  in  some  unearthly  way,  but 
still  really  and  mystically.  No  mere  external  relation,  (as  the  being 
members  of  the  visible  body,  called  by  His  Name)  exhausts  the  in- 
wardness of  the  words  "  in  Clirist ;"  nor,  though  a  meaning  could 
be  given  here  and  there  to  a  passage,  by  substituting  "by,"  "through," 
or  the  like,  may  this  be  done,  now  that  the  frequency  of  the  recur- 
rence of  the  language  marks  out  its  use  as  designed  ;  it  stands  there 
in  deep  simplicity,  at  first  sight  hardly  seeming  to  convey  more  than 
that  these  our  blessings  came  to  us  through  Him,  yet  opening  a 
greater  fulness  of  mystery  to  those  who  would  penetrate  below  the 
surface,  and  would  wish  to  see  what  they  may  see — the  hidden  mys- 
tery of  union  with  Christ,  and  of  the  reality  of  our  dwelling  in  Him, 
and  He  in  us.  It  is  not  any  unity  of  will,  though  worked  by  Him  ; 
no  mere  conformity  of  mind,  though  by  Him  "wrought ;  no  act  of 
faith,  casting  itself  upon  His  mercy  ;  no  outward  imputation  of  right- 
eousness ;  no  mere  ascription  of  His  perfect  obedience  in  our  stead  ; 
no  being  clothed  upon  (as  people  speak)  Avith  His  righteousness  ; 
not  being  looked  upon  by  the  Father  as  in  Him  ;  none  of  these  things 
come  up  to  the  reality  of  being  "zn  Him  :"  and  why,  when  Scrip- 
ture speaks  of  being  "in  Him  ;"  speak  of  "being  tegarded  as  in 
Him  ?"  why  when  Scripture  speaks  of  being  "  clothed  with  Him," 
speak  of  having  His  righteousness  cast  around  us  to  interpose  be- 
tween our  sins  and  the  sight  of  God  ?  Why  when  Scripture  speaks 
of  realities,  talk  of  figures  ?  No,  there  is  a  reality  in  this  Scripture 
language,  which  is  not  to  be  exchanged  away  for  any  of  these  substi- 
tutions.    As  we  are  in  Adam,  not  merely  by  the  imputation  of  Ad- 

*  It  were  trifling  with  the  truth,  to  say,  that  in  some  cases  iv  is  equivalent  to 
Sta ;  or  to  speak  of  the  Hebraisms  of  the  N.  T. ;  for  this  is  only  throwing  the 
question  further  back  as  to  what  is  meant  by  that  very  Hebrew  usage  ;  and 
certainly  that  Hebrew  idiom  itself  expresses  that  the  agent  employed  is  not  a 
mere  instrument,  but  that  God,  e.g.  "spoke  m  Hosea,"  as  well  as  6y  Him 
(Hos.  i.  2. ;)  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  some  end,  directed  the  adoption  of  this 
idiom  in  the  N.  T.  Again,  it  were  a  mere  assumption  to  say,  that  "  created 
in  the  image  of  God,"  is  simply  equivalent  to  "  created  after,  according  to  ;" 
there  is  some  reason  why  what  is  written,  is  written  ;  much  more  in  the  N.  T. 
does  the  great  frequency  of  this  usage  (and  passages  have  been  accumulated, 
in  order  to  impress  this  fact,)  imply  that  there  is  some  special  meaning  in  it. 


97 

am's  sin,  but  by  an  actual  community  of  a  corrupt  nature,  derived  to 
us  from  him  by  our  natural  descent  from  him,  and  because  all  man- 
kind "  were  in  his  loins,"  in  and  after  his  fall ;  so  that  we  have  a  sad 
share  in  him,  as  having  been  in  him,  and  being  from  him,  and  of 
him,  bone  of  his  bone,  and  flesh  of  his  flesh  ;  and  tliis  stream  of  bit- 
terness, which  flows  into,  and  spoils  all  man's  natural  actions,  was 
derived  from  him  as  its  fountain  head  ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
we  in  Christ,  not  merely  by  tlic  imputation  of  His  righteousness,  but 
by  an  actual,  real,  spiritual  origin  from  Him,  not  physical,  but  still 
as  real  as  our  descent  from  Adam.  And  that,  our  actual  descent 
from  Adam  is  cut  ofl"  by  this  our  new  lineage  in  Christ ;  our  biitli 
in  Adam  is  corrected  and  replaced  by  our  birth  of  God  in  Christ ; 
as  we  are  really  sons  of  man  by  physical  birth,  so  are  we  as  really 
and  as  actually  "  sons  of  God,"  by  spiritual  birth ;  sons  of  man,  by 
being  born  of  Adam,  sons  of  God  by  being  members  of  Him  who  is 
the  Son  of  God. 

This  actualness  of  our  birth  by  Baptism  is  well  realized  in  the 
language  of  St.  Hilary,*  when  refuting  the  Arians,  who  interpreted 
our  Lord's  words,  "  I  and  the  Father  arc  One,"  of  an  unity  of  will 
only.  The  acknowledged  actualness  of  the  unity  of  Christians, — 
the  one  nature,  through  one  Baptism,  pervading  and  giving  unity  to 
the  whole  Body,  as  contained  in  this  saying  of  the  Apostle,  is  forci- 
bly assumed  as  the  ground  work  of  the  argument,  that  the  Unity  of 
the  Father  and  the  Son  is  an  Unity  of  Nature,  not  of  will  only. 
"  Setting  aside  then,  for  tiie  present,  that  property  of  Unity,  which  there 
is  in  God  the  Father,  and  in  God  the  Son,  they  are  to  be  refuted  out  of 
those  things  whereof  themselves  partake.  For  they  whose  soul  and 
heart  was  one  (unum,)  I  ask  whether  it  was  one  through  faith  in  God  ? 
By  faith,  surely  ;  for  by  it  was  '  the  soul  and  heart  of  all,  one.'t  And 
I  ask.  Was  faith  one  or  more  ?  One,  assuredly  ;  on  the  authority 
of  the  Apostle  himself,  setting  forth  '  one  faith,'  as  well  as  '  one 
Lord,  and  one  baptism,  and  one  hope,  and  one  God,'  If  then  by 
faith,  that  is,  by  the  nature  of  one  faith,  all  were  one,  how  can  you 
understand  other  than  an  unity  of  nature  in  those,  who  by  the  na- 
ture of  one  faith  are  one  1  For  all  were  re-born  to  innocence,  to  im- 
mortality, to  the  knowledge  of  God,  to  the  faith  of  hope.  And  if 
these  severally  cannot  be  more  than  one,  since  there  is  both  '  one 
hope,  and  one  God,'  just  as  the  Lord  is  one,  and  the  Baptism  of  re- 
generation one,  if  these  things  are  one  by  harmony,  and  not  by 
nature,  then  to  them  also,  who  are  re-born  to  them,  ascribe  an  unity 
of  will  only  !  But  if  they  were  re-generated  into  the  nature  of  one 
life  and  eternity,  whereby  '  their  soid  and  heart  is  one,'  then  there 
is  no  more  an  unity  of  harmony  only,  in  them  who  are  one  in  the 
nature  of  the  same  regeneration.      We  do  not  herein  speak  our 

*  De  Trin.  viii.  7—9.  f  Acts  iii,  32. 

VOL.  II. — 4 


98 

own  words,  nor  are  any  of  these  things  feigned,  put  together  by  us, 
corrupting  the  meaning  of  words,  to  deceive  the  ears  of  the  hearers  ; 
but  '  holding  tlie  form  of  sound  doctrine,'  we  savor  of  and  speak 
things  uncorrupt.  For  the  Apostle  teaches  that  this  unity  of  the 
faithful  is  from  the  nature  of  Sacraments,  in  that  he  writes  to  the 
Galatians,  '  As  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  in  Christ,  have 
put  on  Christ.  There  is  in  Him  (non  inest)  neither  Jew,  nor  Greek, 
there  is  in  Him  neither  slave  nor  free,  there  is  in  Him  neither  male 
nor  female  ;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.'  For,  that  amid  such 
diversity  of  nations,  conditions,  sexes,  they  are  one,  is  this  from  the 
assent  of  the  will,  or  rather  from  the  unity  of  the  Sacrament,  because 
there  was  to  all  '  one  Baptisn,'  and  all  were  '  clothed  with'  one 
Christ  ?  What  then  has  mere  harmony  of  wills  to  do  here,  when 
they  are  one  thereby,  that  by  the  nature  of  one  Baptism,  they  are 
clothed  with  One  Christ  ?  Or  when  '  he  who  planteth  and  he  who 
watereth  are  one,'  are  they  not  thereby  one,  because  being  re-born 
in  one  Baptism,  they  are  the  means  of  dispensing  (dispensatio) 
one  regenerating  Baptism  ?  Do  they  not  the  same  1  Are  they  not 
one  in  One  ?  Therefore  they  who  are  one  by  the  same  thing,  are 
one  also  by  nature,  not  by  will  only,  because  they  have  both  been 
themselves  made  the  same  thing,  and  are  ministers  of  the  same 
thing,  and  of  the  same  efficacy. 

Such  then  was  the  doctrine  seen  by  the  ancient  Church  in  these 
words  of  St.  Paul ;  such  the  privileges  which  the  ancient  Church 
felt  that  they  enjoyed  ;  an  imparted  union  with  Christ ;  an  actual 
sonship  to  God  ;  a  partaking  of  the  holiness  of  Christ,  by  being  par- 
takers of  Himself ;  a  separation  from  the  lineage  of  Adam  :  a  resto- 
ration, yea  a  more  than  restoration  of  that  bright  garment,  wherewith 
Adam  was  in  his  innocence  invested,  stripped  whereof  he  found  him- 
self naked  ;  a  more  than  restoration  of  the  image  of  God,  in  which 
man  was  created,  in  that  he  was  now  re-created  in  Him,  who  is 
"  the  Image  of  the  invisible  God."  And  for  incentives  to  holiness, 
or  brotherly  kindness,  or  contempt  of  the  world, — whether  they  would 
persuade  men  to  zeal  in  keeping  themselves  holy,  in  retaining  the 
garment  with  which  they  had  been  invested,  or  to  love  for  those  who 
having,  with  them,  "  put  on  Christ,"  were,  with  them,  one  in  Christ, 
or  to  despise  things  transitory,  as  having  things  eternal,  the  truth 
thus  realized  gave  a  spring  to  high  Christian  action,  which  we  must 
now  feel  to  be  unstrung.  If  one  member  then  suffered,  every  other 
member  suffered  with  it,  because  they  felt  themselves  to  be  mem- 
bers of  one  Body,  having  been  baptized  into  One.  It  was  not  then 
simply  that  they  had  been  redeemed  by  the  same  precious  Blood, 
bought  by  the  same  price,  and  had  the  same  hopes,  but  that  they 
were  actually  one,  being  in  One  ;  and  so  Christian  sympathy  vibrat- 
ed through  every  member  of  the  whole  Church,  and  what  we  should 
gcarcely  acknowledge  as  a  conclusion  of  the  intellect,  they  felt. 


99 

Thus  St.  Cyprian,*  sending  in  the  name  of  "  his  brotherhood,  a 
large  sum,  which  all  had  promptly,  largely,  and  liberally  contribut- 
ed," for  the  redemption  of  some  Christian  captives,  writes,  "  Where- 
fore, now  both  the  captivity  of  our  brethren  is  to  be  accounted  by  us 
our  own  captivity,  and  the  sorrow  of  those  endangered  our  own  sor- 
row, since  our  body,  being  united,  is  one  ;  and  not  feeling  only,  but 
religion  ought  to  instigate  and  strengthen  us  to  redeem  the  members 
of  our  brothers. — For  since  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  '  As  many  of  you 
as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ,'  in  our  captive 
brethren  Christ  is  to  be  contemplated,  and  redeemed  from  the  peril 
of  captivity.  Who  redeemed  us  from  the  peril  of  death  ;  that  so  He 
Who  drew  us  out  of  the  jaws  of  the  devil,  and  now  remainetli  and 
dwelleth  in  us,  may  be  withdrawn  out  of  the  hands  of  the  barbarians, 
and  He  be  redeemed  by  a  sum  of  money.  Who  redeemed  us  by 
His  Cross  and  Blood."  Or  as  to  the  ordinary  cases  of  every-day 
charity,  St.  Gregory!  of  Nazianzum,  in  the  midst  of  similar  applica- 
tions of  Baptismal  privileges,  "  Is  there  any  sick  and  full  of  sores  ? 
respect  thy  own  health,  and  the  wounds  from  which  Christ  has  freed 
thee.  Seest  thou  one  naked  ?  clothe  him,  reverencing  thy  own  gar- 
ment of  immortality — and  that  is  Christ,  'for  as  many  as  have  been 
baptized  into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ,' "  or  as  to  content  amid  out- 
ward privation,  "  Let  us  not  continue,"  says  St.  Chrysostom|  to  the 
candidate  for  Baptism,  "to  gape  after  the  things  of  this  life,  the  lux- 
ury of  the  table,  or  the  splendor  of  dress  ;  for  thou  hast  a  most  glori- 
ous garment :  thou  hast  a  spiritual  table  :  thou  hast  the  glory  which 
is  on  high ;  and  Christ  becometh  every  thing  to  thee,  table  and  gar- 
ment, and  dwelling-place,  and  head  and  root ;  '  for  as  many  as  have 
been  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ.'  "  And  again,  as  to 
the  petty  infirmities  of  our  nature,  "  When§  the  poor  man  sees  the 
wealthy  clad  in  a  sumptuous  garment,  he  is  cast  down,  and  thinks 
himself  of  all  men  most  unhappy.  Here  is  this  want  also  removed ; 
for  there  is  one  garment  for  all,  saving  Baptism  ;  for  he  saith,  '  As 
many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ.' 
....  Let  us  then  not  shame  this  festival  by  excess," 

So  far  was  the  vivid  sense  of  this  truth  from  encouraging  listless- 
ness,  (as  some  now  dread,)  that  it  was  the  strongest  incentive  to  vig- 
ilance, since  the  gift  was  so  great,  yet  might  be  lost ;  "Let  us  then," 
says  St.  Ambrose, II  "preserve  the  garment,  wherewith  the  Lord 
clothed  us,  ascending  from  the  sacred  font.  Soon  is  the  garment 
rent,  if  our  deeds  agree  not ;  soon  is  it  moth-eaten  by  the  flesh,  and 
stained  by  sins  of  the  old  man.  Essay  not  then  here  to  join  new  and 
old  :  for  we  are  forbidden  by  the  Apostle,  to  clad  ourselves  with  the 

*  Ep.  59,  ad  Episc.  Numidas.         f  Orat.  40  in  S.  Bapt.  \  29. 
X  Ad  Illuminandos  Catech.  2.  t.  ii-  p.  237. 
\  Chrys.  c.  ebrios.  et  de  Res.  \  3. 
II  Expos.  Evang.  sec.  Luc.  L.  v.  \  25. 


100 

old  above  the  new,  but  are  'to  put  off  the  old,'  and  'put  on  the  new/ 
that  being  'unclothed  we  may  not  be  found  naked,'  For  we  arc  said 
to  be  'unclothed,'  to  receive  a  better  raiment ;  but  to  be  stripped 
'  naked,'  when  our  raiment  is  taken  off  from  us  through  the  wrong 
of  others,  and  not  laid  aside  at  our  own  pleasure."  And  with  this 
join  on  St.  Basil's*  solemn  words,  "  For  from  us  also  He  strippeth 
off  the  glory  of  our  garment,  if  we  be  found  to  use  it  unwortliily, 
trampling  it  under  foot,  and  filling  it  with  the  defilements  of  the  flesh. 
But  what  else  is  that  garment,  than  the  clothing  of  the  saints,  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  '  for  as  many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into 
Christ  have  put  on  Christ,'  which  the  Lord  strippeth  off  from  those 
who  'trample  upon  the  Body  by  sinning,'  and  'count  the  blood  of  the 
Covenant  an  unholy  thing.'  Of  this  garment,  the  '  garments  of  Israel 
which  waxed  not  old,'  were  types."  Or  how  does  St.  Gregory  of 
Nyssat  gives  it  as  a  shield  against  the  assaults  of  Satan  !  "  Such  [as 
in  St.  Paul]  should  regeneration  be  ;  so  efface  all  intimacy  with  sin  ; 
such  should  be  the  life  of  the  sons  of  God.  For  His  sons  are  we 
called  after  the  grace  [of  Baptism].  Wherefore  it  becomes  us  to  ex- 
amine accurately  the  properties  of  our  Father,  that  forming  and  fash- 
ioning ourselves  after  the  likeness  of  our  Father,  we  may  appear  to 
be  genuine  sons  of  Him  Who  hath  called  us  to  the  adoption  accord- 
ing to  grace.  For  to  be  called  a  spurious  and  suppositious  son  is  a 
heavy  reproach,  belying  in  deeds  his  noble  parentage. — Wherefore 
after  the  adoption  of  sons,  the  Devil  besets  us  the  more  vehemently. 
But  when  we  feel  his  assaults,  we  should  repeat  to  ourselves  the 
Apostolic  saying,  '  As  many  as  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have 
been  baptized  into  His  Death  ;'  but  if  we  have  been  made  conform- 
ed to  His  Death,  sin  must  be  for  the  future  wholly  dead  in  us,  pier- 
ced through  by  the  lance  of  Baptism,  as  that  fornicator  was  by  Phin- 
eas  in  his  jealousy  for  the  Lord.  Flee  then  from  us,  accursed  one  ; 
would  St  thou  strip  the  dead  1  A  dead  man  loveth  not  the  flesh  ;  a 
dead  man  is  not  captivated  by  wealth  ;  a  dead  man  bears  not  false 
witness  ;  a  dead  man  lies  not,  steals  not,  reviles  not.  No,  with  me 
mortal  (o  0ioi)  has  been  moulded  into  another  life  (fw»/i') .  I  have  been 
instructed  to  despise  the  things  of  this  world,  to  pass  beyond  things 
of  earth,  and  to  hasten  to  those  of  heaven,  as  Paul  also  expressly  tes- 
tifies that  '  the  world  is  crucified  to  him,  and  he  unto  the  world.'" 

Such  was  the  ancient  view  :  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  in  the 
founder  of  that  branch  of  the  foreign  Reformation,  which  retained 
the  ancient  doctrine  of  Baptism,  the  clear  perception  that  the  putting 
on  of  Christ,  v/hich  is  His  gift  in  Baptism,  must  precede  the  put- 
ting Him  on  in  life,  that  we  must  first  be  by  Him  conformed  to 
Himself,  that  we  may  afterwards  seek  to  imitate  Him.  Would  that 
they  who  extol  Luther's  clearness  on  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 

*  Coram,  in  Es.  3.  18,  p.  466  f  I>e  Bapt.  Christi,  p.  380 


101 

faith,  would  lay  to  heart  their  master's  teaching  as  to  justification 
through  Baptism  !  Luther's  comment  on  this  passage,  is,  "  '  To 
put  on  Christ'  is  two-fold;  legal  and  evangelical.  Legal,  (Rom. 
xiii.)  *  imitate  the  example  and  excellencies  of  Christ,'  do 
and  suffer  what  lie  has  done  and  suffered  :  so,  1  Peter  ii.,  '  Christ 
suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example  that  ye  should  follow  His 
steps.'  But  we  see  in  Christ  infinite  patience,  gentleness,  and  love, 
and  a  wonderful  moderation  in  all  things.  This  ornament  of  Christ 
we  ought  to  put  on,  i.  e.  imitate  these  His  excellencies.  So  also  we 
may  imitate  other  Saints,  But  to  put  on  Christ  evangelically  is  not 
a  matter  of  imitation,  but  of  birth  and  new  creation  ;  when,  namely, 
I  am  clothed  with  Christ  Himself,  i.  e.  His  innocence,  justice,  wis- 
dom, power,  salvation,  life,  spirit,  &c.  We  are  clothed  with  Adam, 
clothes  of  skins,  mortal  clothes,  and  a  garment  of  sin.  This  raiment, 
i.  c.  this  corrupt  and  sinful  nature,  we  contracted  by  our  descent 
from  Adam,  which  St.  Paul  calls  the  old  man,  and  which  is  to  be 
*  put  off  with  its  deeds,'  (Eph.  iv.  Coloss.  iii  )  that  out  of  sons  of 
Adam  we  may  be  made  sons  of  God.  This  is  not  done  by  any 
change  of  vestment,  not  by  any  laws  or  works,  but  by  the  new  birth 
and  renewal  which  takes  place  at  Baptism  ;  as  St.  Paul  says,  *  who- 
ever of  you  arc  baptized  have  put  on  Ciirist ;'  '  according  to  His 
mercy  He  saved  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration,'  &c.  For  there 
is  kindled  in  the  baptized  a  new  life  and  flame,  there  arise 
new  and  holy  feelings,  fear,  trust  in  God,  hope,  &c.  there  ariseth  a 
new  will.  This,  then,  is  properly,  truly,  and  Evangelically  to  '  put 
on  Christ.'  Therefore  in  Baptism  there  is  not  given  us  a  clothing  of 
legal  righteousness,  or  our  own  works,  but  Christ  is  our  raiment.  But 
He  is  not  law,  nor  legislator,  nor  work,  but  a  Divine  and  unspeaka- 
ble gift,  which  the  Father  gave  us,  to  be  our  Justificr,  Life-giver  and 
Redeemer.  Wherefore,  Evangelically  to  put  on  Christ  is  not  to  put 
on  a  law  or  works,  but  an  inestimable  gift,  viz  :  remission  of  sins, 
righteousness,  peace,  consolation,  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  salvation, 
life,  and  Christ  Himself.  This  place  is  to  be  carefully  noted  against 
Fanatic  spirits,  wiio  depreciate  the  majesty  of  Baptism,  and  speak 
wickedly  thereof.  St.  Paul  on  the  contrary  sets  it  forth  with  mag- 
nificent titles,  calling  it  the  '  washing  of  regeneration  and  of  tlie  re- 
newal by  the  Holy  (xhost ;'  and  here  he  says,  that  all  baptized  per- 
sons have  put  on  Christ ;  speaking,  as  I  said,  of  a  '  putting  on,' 
which  should  be  not  by  imitating,  but  by  being  born.  He  says  not 
— Yc  have  received  in  Baptism  a  token,  whereby  ye  are  enrolled 
among  Christians,  as  the  sectaries  dream,  who  make  of  Baptism  a 
mere  token,  i.  e.  a  trivial  and  empty  sign  ;  but  he  says,  '  As  many 
as  iiave  been  baptized  have  put  on  Christ,'  i.  c.  have  been  borne 
away  out  of  the  law  into  a  new  birth,  which  took  place  in  Baptism. 
Therefore  ye  are  no  longer  under  the  law,  but  are  clothed  with  a 
new  garment,  the  righteousness  of  Christ.     St.  Paul  then  teaches 


102 

that  Baptism  is  not  a  sign,  but  the  putting  on  of  Christ — yea,  that 
Christ  himself  is  our  clothing.  Wherefore  Baptism  is  a  thing  most 
powerful  and  efficacious.  But  when  we  are  clothed  with  Christ,  the 
clothing  of  our  righteousness  and  salvation,  then  also  shall  we  be 
clothed  with  Christ,  the  clothing  of  imitating  Him." 

I.  3.  "  In  Him  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily  ;  and  ye  are 
complete  in  Him,  Who  is  the  head  of  all  principality  and  power ;  in  Whom  also 
ye  were  circumcised  with  a  circumcision  made  without  hands,  in  the  putting 
clean  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh,  in  the  circumcision  of  Christ, 
having  been  buried  together  with  him  in  Baptism,  in  Wliom  also  ye  were 
together  raised,  through  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  Who  raised  Him 
from  the  dead.  And  you  being  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  did  He  quicken 
together  with  Him,  having  forgiven  you  all  trespasses."*     Col.  ii.  10 — 13. 

It  were  impossible  in  this  whole  passage,  thus  viewed  together, 
not  to  see  that  it  contains  an  account  of  great  gifts  bestowed  upon  us 
in  Christ,  however  outwardly  those  gifts  may  have  been  by  many 
conceived  of,  even  by  those  who  deemed  themselves  spiritual,  and 
been  resolved  into  communication  of  knowledge,  manifestation  of  the 

*  The  title,  "circumcision  without  hands,"  is  applied  to  Baptism  in  the 
Chaldee  and  Malabar  Liturgy  (Ass.  i.  196,)  where  that  which  is  typical,  and 
figurative  and  instructive,  is  remarkably  contrasted  with  that  M'hich  is  a  means 
of  grace.  "  The  holy  oil  which  Thou  gavest  to  those  of  old  as  the  seal  and  in- 
vestment of  a  temporal  priesthood  and  a  transitory  kingdom,  Thou  hast  now 
committed  to  the  priests  of  the  Church,  to  be  a  sign  and  figure  of  those  who 
pass  from  things  earthly  to  things  heavenly,  with  an  immortal  body  and  a  soul 
unchangeable,  and  are  circumcised  with  the  circumcision  without  hands,  put- 
ting otf  the  body  of  sin  in  the  circumcision  of  Christ."  The  context  above 
explained  (Col.  iii.  9 — 17,)  was  read  as  a  Baptismal  lesson  in  several  ancient 
Latin  liturgies,  as  in  that  of  Gellon  (Ass.  i.  57,)  of  Poictiers  (ib.  68,)  of  Wertin 
(ib.  74,)  and  from  ancient  sources  in  the  Roman  ritual  by  S.  Severini(ib.  94.) 
The  portion,  9 — 11,  is  formed  into  a  prayer  before  baptism  in  the  Syriac 
(ib.  824,)  incorporating  an  expression  from  Eph.  iv.  22,  Take  away  from 
them  the  old  man  which  is  corrupt  by  deceitful  lusts,  and  clothe  them  with 
the  new  clothing  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge,  in  Thy  image,  O  Creator, 
where  is  neither  Jew,  nor  Greek,  neither  circumcision,  nor  uncircumcision, 
but  in  all  and  each  is  Thy  habitation."  It  occurs  also  in  the  Greek  (ib.  ii.  138, 
gee  above,  p.  94,)  in  that  of  Antioch  (ib.  222,)  o[  Jerusalem  (ib.  230,)  of  Seve- 
rus  (ib.  293,)  and  more  briefly  in  the  Coptic  (ib.  151,)  "grant  that  being  strip- 
ped of  the  old  man  he  be  regenerated  to  life  eternal."  In  the  Chaldee  and 
Ma/a^ar  Liturgy  the  corresponding  passage  in  the  Ep.  to  the  Eph.  (iv.  22 — 24,) 
is  used  in  the  same  reference  to  Baptism.  "Let  us  all  pray, that  in  sin-remit- 
ting Baptism  they  may  put  off  the  old  man  which  is  corrupt  through  deceit- 
ful lusts,  and  may  put  on,  in  the  bath  of  the  holy  waters,  the  new  man,  which 
in  God  is  created  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  (ib.  i.  183.)  And  in  the 
Maronite  liturgy,  by  St.  James  of  Sarug,  "  Let  us  pray  Him,  who  is  a  hyssop, 
cleansing  and  making  white,  that  He  will  remove  and  cast  from  us  the  old 
man,  which  is  decayed  and  corrupted,  and  clothe  us  with  a  new  vestment, 
which  is  renewed  and  made  excellent  and  holy  through  pure  Baptism."  (Ib. 
ii.  329.) 


103 

Divine  will,  and  the  like.  The  whole  remarkably  connects  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  in  our  Lord  with  the  fulness  of  His  Church  in. 
Him  ;  and  that  derived  fiJness  with  the  channel  through  which  it  was 
poured  into  her  and  her  members,  the  spiritual  antitype  of  Circum- 
cision, Baptism  in  Him.  And  so,  while  inculcating  the  same  fruits 
of  Baptism  as  to  the  Romans,  St.  Paul  here  ascends  higher,  and 
speaks  of  the  source  of  their  greatness,  that  He,  in  whom  we  are 
baptized,  with  whom  co-interred,  with  and  in  whom  raised,  is  God 
as  well  as  man;  whence  those  baptized  in  Him,  "  are  filled  with 
all  the  fulness  of  God."  "  He  saith  not  dwelleth  spiritually,  but 
bodily,''''  says  St.  Leo,*  against  Eutyches,  "  that  we  may  understand 
thereby  a  real  substance  of  Flesh,  wherein  is  the  corporeal  indwell- 
ing of  the  fulness  of  the  Deity  ;  with  which  same  fulness  is  the 
Church  filled ;  which,  adhering  to  the  Head,  is  the  body  of  Christ, 
who  liveth  and  reigneth  with  the  Father,  and  tlie  Holy  Spirit,  God 
for  ever."  And  again,!  "  Holding  fast  then,  dearly  beloved,  the  sin- 
gle pledge  of  the  Christian  faith,  be  we  not  separated  from  the  bands 
of  the  body  of  Christ,  'in  whom,'  as  the  Apostle  saith,  '  dwelleth  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  and  ye  are  in  Him  filled.'  For 
since  the  substance  of  God  is  incorporeal,  how  should  He  dwell  cor- 
poreally in  Christ,  except  that  the  flesh  of  our  race  is  made  the  flesh 
of  Godhead ;  and  we  are  in  that  God  filled,  in  whom  we  have  been 
crucified,  in  whom  also  raised  again,  so  that  we  can  say  with  the 
Apostle,  '  but  our  conversation  is  in  heaven,  whence  also  we  expect 
the  Saviour,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  re-form  our  vile  body, 
to  be  conformed  to  His  glorious  Body.'  " 

Moderns,  however,  have  habitually  separated  these  ;  the  Incarna- 
tion is  now  very  commonly  looked  upon  in  reference  only  to  the 
Passion  of  our  Lord,  and  as  a  means  of  His  vicarious  suffering  ; 
not  as  if  it  had  any  reference  to  us,  to  the  sanctification  of  our  nature, 
becaiase  He  had  "  taken  the  manhood  into  God."  And  so  they  take 
what  is  said  of  Baptism,  as  teaching  only,  as  if  it  inculcated  the  same 
as  Circumcision,  and  imparted  a  lesson  rather  than  a  grace.  They 
only  think  of  the  circumcision  of  the  heart  which  we  ought  to  have, 
of  the  complete  extinction  of  all  sinful  tendencies,  at  which  we  ought 
to  aim,  of  the  power  of  the  faith  which  we  ought  to  cherish.  Yet  this 
again  is  but  a  portion  of  the  truth  :  it  tells  us  of  the  end  which  we 
are  to  arrive  at,  but  not  of  the  means,  whereby  God  gives  us  strength 
on  our  way  thitherward  :  it  speaks  of  the  height  of  God's  holy  hill, 
but  not  of  the  power  by  which  we  are  caught  up  thither.  Not  so  St. 
Paul.  He  is  persuading  the  Colossians  to  abide  in  the  state  in 
which  they  had  been  placed  ;  to  rest  upon  the  foundation  on  which 
they  had  been  laid ;  to  root  themselves  in  the  soil  in  which  they 

*  Serm.  28,  [al.  27.]  in  Nativ.  Dom.  8.  fin. 

t  Serm.  65,  [al.  64,]  de  passione  Dom.  1.  4.  fin. 


104 

had  been  planted ;  to  be  content  willi  the  fulness  which  they  had 
received  from  Him  by  whom  they  had  been  filled,  and  in  whom 
dwelt  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily  ;  to  abide  in  Him  whom 
they  had  received.  For  he  feared  lest  they  should  be  taught  by  the 
vain  deceit  of  a  false  philosophy  to  take  other  stays  than  their  Sa- 
viour, or  to  lean  on  the  now  abolished  tradition  of  circumcision.  To 
this  end  he  reminds  them  that  they  needed  nothing  out  of  Christ ; 
for  they  had  been  filled  with  Him,  "  who  filleth  all  in  all,"  "  the 
Head  of  all  rule  and  all  power ;"  therefore  they  needed  no  other 
power,  but  only  His — they  had  received  the  true  circumcision,  and 
so  could  require  no  other  ;  they  had  been  disencumbered  of  the  sinful 
mass,  with  which  they  were  naturally  encumbered,  "  the  body  of 
the  sins  of  the  flesh,"  bj^  the  circumcision  which  Christ  bestowed  ; 
their  old  man  had  been  buried  with  Him  in  Baptism  ;  they  had  been 
raised  with  Him,  (whereof  the  ascending  out  of  the  water  was  a 
figure)  b}^  a  power  as  mighty  as  that  which  raised  Him  from  the 
dead  ;  and,  by  that  participation  in  His  death  and  resurrection,  had 
received  the  earnest  of  the  resurrection  which  was  yet  future,  and 
of  the  life  to  come.*  All  their  old  sins  had  been  forgiven,  and  they 
themselves  re-born  from  the  dead,  and  been  made  partakers  of  the 
life  of  Clirist,  "  quickened  with  Him;"  the  powers  of  darkness  had 
been  spoiled  of  their  authority  over  them,  and  exhibited  as  captives 
and  dethroned.  All  these  things  had  been  bestowed  upon  them  by 
Baptism  ;  the  mercies  of  God  had  been  there  appropriated  to  them  ; 
sins  blotted  out ;  their  sinful  nature  dead,  buried  in  Christ's  tomb  ; 
death  changed  into  life  ;  and  therefore,  as  they  had  no  need,  so 
neither  were  they  to  make  void  these  gifts  by  trusting  in  any  other 
ordinances,  or  looking  to  an)?-  other  Mediator.  St.  Paul  dreads  that 
through  false  teaching  and  a  false  self-abasement,  they  should  not 
hold  to  the  Head.  (ver.  18.)  But  does  he  depreciate  their  baptismal 
privileges  ?  or,  because  they  were  tempted  to  lean  on  circumcision, 
does  he  disparage  outward  ordinances  ?  or  dread  that  the  exaltation 
of  the  ordinance  should  lead  to  a  depreciation  of  Christ  ?  Rather, 
he  shows  them  how  every  thing  which  they  sought,  or  could  need, 
was  comprised,  and  had  been  already  bestowed  upon  them  in  their 
Saviour's  gift,  in  His  ordinance  :  that  this  ordinance  was  no  mere 
significant  rite,  but  contained  within  itself  the  stripping  off  of  the 

*  "  By  the  '  stripping  off  of  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh,'  he  means  Bap- 
tism. For  therein  have  we  the  defiled  garment  of  sin  stripped  ofl^.  But  all- 
holy  Baptism  is  a  type  of  things  to  come  :  that  in  the  life  to  come  the  body  hav- 
ing become  immortal  and  incorruptible,  shall  no  longer  admit  the  defilement 
of  sin.  And  that  he  spake  this  of  Baptism,  what  follows  attests,  '  having  been 
buried  with  Him  in  Baptism.'  But  having  called  Saving  Baptism  an  image 
of  death  (in  that  he  said  '  having  been  buried  with  Him')  he  announces  the 
good  tidings  of  the  resurrection,  'In  Whom  also  ye  were  raised  together.'" — 
Theodoret  ad  loo. 


105 

body  of  sin,  death,  resurrection,  new  life,  forgiveness,  annulment 
of  the  hand-writing  against  us,  despoiling  of  the  strong  one,  triumph 
over  the  powers  of  darkness.  We  also  have  been  thus  circumcised, 
have  been  buried,  raised,  quickened,  pardoned,  filled  with  Christ : 
all  this  God  has  done  for  us,  and  are  we  not  to  prize  it?  not  to  thank 
God  for  it,  "  stablished  in  the  faith  which  we  have  been  taught,  and 
abounding  therein  with  thanksgiving  ?"  (ver.  7.)  and  are  we,  for  fear 
men  should  rest  in  outward  privileges,  to  make  the  Lord's  sacrament 
a  mere  outward  gift,  deny  His  bounty,  and  empty  His  fulness?  or 
rather  ought  we  not,  with  the  Apostle,  to  tell  men  of  the  greatness 
of  what  they  have  received,  and  repeat  to  them  His  bidding, 
"  since  then  ye  ivere  raised  together  with  Christ,  seek  what  is 
above,  where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God  ;"  (iii.  1.)  ye 
did  die  ;*  slay  then  your  earthly  members  ;  (ver.  5.)  ye  were 
stripped  of  the  old  man,t  and  ivere  clothed  with  the  new,  and  that, 
made  new  in  its  Creator's  image,  which  has  now  again  been  restored 
to  you  :  (ver.  9,  10.)  "  put  ye  on  then,  as  having  been  chosen  and 
loved  of  God,"  the  ornaments  befitting  this  new  creation  in  you,  mer- 
cy, gentleness,  and  the  other  graces,  (ver.  11.)  :  ye  have  been  for- 
given, forgive,  (ver.  13.)  Thus  does  St.  Paul  obviate  the  resting  in 
outward  ordinances,  by  showing  namely  thaf  the  Christian  ordi- 
nances are  not  outward ;  that  they  are  full  of  life  and  honor  and 
immortality,  for  that  they  are  full  of  Christ ;  since  "  Christ  is  all 
things,  and  in  all."  (ver.  11.)  Is  there  not  danger  of  our  losing  our 
treasures  also  by  a  "  voluntary  humility  ?"  Is  not  our  dread  of 
the  consequences  of  exalting  Christ's  ordinances,  "  after  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  world,"  (an  earthly  wisdom)  "  and  not  after  Christ  ?" 

It  is  melancholy,  but  instructive,  to  contrast  the  poverty  of  the 
interpretation  of  Calvin's  school,  with  the  richness  of  that  of  the 
ancient  Church.  Calvin,  for  instance,  says,  "  The  sum  total  is, 
that  God  in  Christ  exhihitedX  Himself  wholly  and  fully.     The  word 

*  "  We  therefore  who  in  Baptism  have  died  and  been  buried,  as  relates  to 
the  carnal  sins  of  the  old  man,  we  who  have  risen  with  Christ  by  a  new-birth 
from  heaven,  let  us  think  and  do  the  things  of  Clirist."  St.  Cyprian  on  Col. 
iii.  1.    De  Zelo  et  Livore,  c.  7. 

f  "  AVhen  we  are  renewed  by  the  washing  of  Baptism  through  the  power  of 
the  word,  we  are  separated  from  the  sins  and  authors  of  our  birth,  and  cut  off 
by  a  sort  of  excision  of  the  Word  of  God,  are  separated  from  the  dispositions 
of  our  parents,  and  putting  off  the  old  man  with  his  sins  and  unbelief,  and  re- 
newed in  mind  and  body  by  the  Spirit,  we  must  needs  hate  the  habits  of  our 
inborn  and  old  deeds."     Hilary  in  S.  Matt.  c.  x.  \  24. 

J  Ad  loc-  "  It  might  be  objected  that  the  figure  [Circumcision]  was  not  there- 
fore to  be  despised,  because  they  had  the  substance,  since  among  the  Fathers 
also  was  there  that  '  laying  aside  of  the  old  man,'  whereof  he  spake,  yet  still 
the  outward  circumcision  was  not  superfluous  with  them.  This  objection  he 
meets  by  adding,  that  the  Colossians  had  been  '  buried  with  Christ  by  Baptism.' 
Whereby  he  signifies  that  Baptism  in  these  days  is  the  same  thing  which  Cir- 


106 

*  bodily,'  I  doubt  not  is  put  for  *  substantially.'  For  he  opposes  this 
manifestation  of  God  which  we  have  in  Christ  to  all  others  which 
ever  were.  For  God  often  exhibited  Himself  to  men,  but  in  part ; 
in  Christ  He  communicates  [i.  e.  in  Calvin's  sense,  exhibited]  Him- 
self wholly.  At  other  times  also  He  manifested  Himself  but  in 
figures,  or  by  His  power  and  grace,  but  in  Christ  He  appeared  to  us 
essentially :"  and  of  Baptism,  wherein  St.  Paul  says,  they  "  had 
been  buried  together  with  Christ,  and  in  Him  had  risen  also  toge- 
ther," Calvin  says,  "  Christ  works  the  spiritual  circumcision  in  us, 
not  with  the  intervention  of  that  ancient  sign,  which  had  place  under 
Moses,  but  of  Baptism.  Baptism  then  is  the  sign  of  the  thing  exhi- 
bited, which  Circumcision  figured  being  absent."  Baptism  is  to 
him,  just  as  outward  in  the  flesh  as  Circumcision.  Or,  take  another 
eminent  writer  of  the  same  school,*  who  says,  "  that  '  whole  fulness 
of  the  Godhead'  means  here  nothing  else  than  the  whole  will  of 
God,  and  Majesty  also,  as  far  as  it  was  discovered  in  the  Word  ; 
then,  by  the  '  indwelling'  is  meant  that  same  manifestation,  but 
which  shall  last  for  ever,  and  never  hereafter  be  changed  ;  lastly,  by 
the  adverb  '  bodily,'  is  meant  the  solid  and  perfect  disclosure  of  the 
Godhead,  as  opposed  to  the  shadows  of  the  law,  and  other  obscure 
and  imperfect  revelations.  This  is  proved  by  the  scope  and  connec- 
tion of  the  whole  discourse,  which  is,  that  we  may  know  that  in  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  we  have  all  things  most  fully  disclosed,  which  we 
have  need  to  know  of  this  Godhead — that  the  whole  knowledge  of 
divine  things  is,  as  it  were,  laid  up  in  Christ  and  His  Gospel.  Since 
filso  we  are  said  to  be  therefore  completed  or  consummated  in 
Christ,  because  '  the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelleth  in  Him 
bodily,'  it  would  follow  that  that  Godhead  was  in  some  way  commu- 
nicated to  us,  or  that  we  in  some  degree  were  made  partakers  of  that 
fulness.  Since  then  it  is  certain  that  neither  the  whole,  nor  any  part 
of  the  Divine  Essence  is  really  communicated  to  us,  it  follows  that 
that  '  whole  Godhead'  is  immediately  in  itself,  and  in  this  context,  to 
be  understood  not  of  the  Essence,  but  of  the  will  and  glory  of  God — 
Under  the  name  'Christ,'  ['not  according  to  Christ,  for  in  Him 
dwelleth,'  &c.]  is  meant  not  so  much  properly  the  person  of  Christ, 
as,  by  a  metonymy,  the  Gospel  and  teaching  of  Christ.  Lastly, 
the  same  appears  from  the  comparison  of  the  like  passage,  Eph.  iii. 
19.,  where  the  Apostle  wishes  that '  they  may  be  filled  with  all  the 
fulness  of  God,'  which  is  nothing  else  than  to  be  filled  with  a  solid 
knowledge  oi  the  Divine  wisdom  and  majesty." 

Of  a  truth,  a  meagre  conception  of  the  actualness  of  our  Re- 

cumcision  was  to  the  ancients,  and  that  Circumcision,  therefore,  could  not  be 
enjoined  to  Christians  without  disparaging  it." — Inst.  4,  14,  24. 

*  Vorstius  ad  loc     His  Scholia  and  Loci  communes,  which  go  over  the 
same  ground,  have  been  blended  together. 


107 

deemer's  gifts  in  His  Sacraments,  whereby  He  makes  men  "par- 
takers of  the  Divine  Nature,"  has  produced  a  meagre  theology,  sub- 
stituting His  teaching  for  His  Person,  disclosures  of  God  for  the 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  "  knowledge  of  the  Godhead,"  for  "  be- 
ing perfected  in  Christ,"  "  the  revealed  will  and  glory  of  God,"  for 
the  "  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead."  One  would  have  thought  that 
it  was  rather  some  Arian  or  Socinian  exposition,  emptying  the  word 
of  God  of  His  Word.  It  needed  not  such  a  foil  to  set  off  the  solemn 
exposition  of  St.  Hilary,  in  which  he  shows  how  the  Apostle  com- 
bines the  reality  of  the  indwelling  of  the  Eternal  Son  in  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus,  with  the  reality  of  His  communication  of  Himself  to 
us,  the  reality  of  the  mystery  of  Holy  Baptism,  and  our  being  there- 
by in  Him,  with  the  reality  of  His  Holy  Incarnation,*  "  Having 
set  forth  the  '  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  Him  bodily,'  he 
immediately  subjoined  the  mystery  of  His  assumption  of  us,  saying, 

*  Ye  are  filled  in  Him.'  For  as  in  Him  is  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head, so  are  we  '  filled  in  Him,'  Nor  does  he  say,  '  are  filled,'  but 
'  are  filled  in  Him,'  because  through  the  hope  of  faith,  all  who  have 
been,  or  shall  be  regenerated  to  life  eternal,  remain  now  in  the 
Body  of  Christ.  Now  then  we  '  are  filled  in  Him,'  i,  e,  by  the  as- 
sumption of  His  flesh,  wherein  the  'fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwell- 
eth  bodily.'  And  the  might  of  our  hope  herein  is  not  slight.  For 
that  we  are  filled  in  Him,  this  is  the  head  and  origin  of  all  might, 
according  to  that,  '  That  at  His  Name  every  knee  shall  bow,  and 
every  tongue  confess  that  Jesus  is  Lord  in  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father,'  The  confession  then  will  be  this,  '  Jesus  in  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father  ;'  and  that  He,  who  was  born  in  man,  abides  now 
not  in  the  weakness  of  our  body,  but  in  *  the  glory  of  God.'  And 
when  things  in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  bow  the  knee,  this  is  the  head 
of  all  principahty  and  might,  that  all  things  bowing  the  knee  are 
subjected  to  Him,  '  in  whom  we   are  filled,  and  who,  through  the 

*  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwelling  in  Him  bodily,'  is  to  be  '  confessed 
in  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,' 

"  But  having  set  forth  the  mystery  both  of  His  Nature  and  of  His 
assumption  of  ours,  whereby  'the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  abiding  in 
Him,'  we  are  thereby  '  filled  in  Him'  that  He  was  born  as  man,  He 
pursueth  the  rest  of  the  dispensation  of  man's  salvation,  *  In  whom 
ye  were  circumcised,'  &c.  We  are  circumcised  then  not  by  a  carnal 
circumcision,  but  by  the  circumcision  of  Christ,  i.  e.  being  re-born 
into  a  new  man.  For  when  we  are  buried  with  Him  in  His  Bap- 
tism, we  must  needs  die  as  to  the  old  man,  because  the  Regeneration 
of  Baptism  is  the  power  of  the  Resurrection.  And  this  is  the  '  cir- 
cumcision of  Christ,'  not  to  be  despoiled  of  the  flesh  of  the  foreskin, 
but  to  die  wholly  with  Him  [commori,]  and  thereby  afterwards  wholly 

*  De  Trin.  ix.  8—10. 


108 

to  'live  to  Him.'  For  *in  Him  we  rise  again,  through  faith  of  that 
God  who  raised  Him  from  the  dead.'"  And  then  having  quoted 
the  next  verse,  "  And  )'ou  being  dead,"  &c.,  as  containing  the  con- 
summation of  the  whole  mystery  of  the  assumption  of  man,  he  pro- 
ceeds with  his  comment : — 

"  The  man  of  the  world  receiveth  not  the  Apostolic  faith,  and  no 
language  but  his  own  explains  the  expressions  of  his  meaning.  God 
raiseth  Christ  from  the  dead,  Christ,  'in  whom  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  dwells  bodily.'  But  He  quickened  us  together  with  Him, 
forgiving  our  sins,  and  blotting  out  the  hand-writing  of  the  law  of 
sin,  which  by  the  former  sentence  was  contrary  to  us,  taking  it  out  of 
the  way,  and  nailing  it  to  the  cross,  by  the  law  of  death,  despoil- 
ing Himself  of  the  flesh,  making  open  show  of  the  Powers,  triumph- 
ing over  them  in  Himself.  But  who  shall  comprehend  or  utter  this 
mystery  ?  The  operation  of  God  raises  Christ  from  the  dead,  and 
this  same  operation  of  God  quickens  us  w'itii  Christ,  and  this  same 
operation  forgives  sins,  destroys  the  handwriting,  and  nails  to  the 
cross,  despoils  Himself  of  the  flesh,  makes  open  show  of  the  Pow- 
ers, and  triumphs  over  them  in  Himself." 

In  another  place*  the  connection  of  the  passage  is,  perhaps,  still 
more  drawn  out,  on  account  of  the  exceeding  closeness  of  the  para- 
phrase, as  of  one  who  felt  that  in  such  high  mysteries  there  was 
danger  in  parting  far  from  the  Apostle's  language. 

"  A  constant  faith  rejects  the  captious  and  useless  questions  of 
philosophy,  nor,  yielding  to  the  deceits  of  human  folhes,  does  truth 
give  itself  as  a  spoil  to  falsehood  ;  not  retaining  God,  according  to 
the  conceptions  of  ordinary  understanding,  nor  conceiving  of  Christ 
according  to  the  elements  of  the  world,  in  whom  the  fulness  of  God- 
head dwelleth  bodily  ;  so  that  since  in  Him  is  the  Infinity  of  Eter- 
nal Power,  the  Power  of  Eternal  Infinity  must  needs  surpass  all 
comprehension  of  an  earthly  mind  ;  who,  drawling  us  over  to  the  Na- 
ture of  His  own  Divinity,  no  longer  binds  us  by  the  corporeal  ob- 
servation of  ordinances  ;  nor  through  the  shadows  of  the  law  does 
He  consecrate  us  by  rites  of  cutting  off"  of  the  flesh,  but  so,  that  cir- 
cumcised from  the  faults  of  the  spirit,  through  the  cleansing  of  sins 
He  might  purify  us  as  to  all  the  natural  requirements  of  the  body  ; 
in  whose  death  we  are  co-interred  in  Baptism,  that  so  we  might 
return  to  the  life  of  Eternity ;  inasmuch  as  regeneration  to  life  is 
death  from  life,  and  dying  to  sins,  we  are  born  to  immortality  ;  He 
from  immortality  dying  for  us,  that  we  together  with  Him  might  be 
raised  from  death  to  immortality.  But  He  took  the  flesh  of  sin, 
[flesh  which  in  us  was  sinful,]  that  by  the  taking  of  our  flesh  He 
might  forgive  offences,  in  that  He  partook  of  it  by  taking  it,  not  by 
sin  ;  destroying  through  death  the  sentence  of  death,  so  as  by  a  new 

*  De  Trin.  i.  13. 


109 

creation  of  our  race  in  Himself,  to  abolish  what  was  established  by 
the  former  decree,  suffering  Himself  to  be  nailed  to  the  cross,  that 
by  the  curse  of  the  cross  He  might  transfix  and  blot  out  all  the  curses 
of  the  sentence  which  condemned  our  earthly  nature  :  lastly,  suffer- 
ing in  man,  that  He  might  degrade  the  Powers,  in  that,  though  God, 
dying  according  to  the  Scriptures,  He  thereby  triumphed  over  them 
also,  having  in  Himself  the  confidence  of  a  Conqueror,  while  Him- 
self undying  and  unassailable  by  Death,  he  died  to  obtain  eternity 
for  the  dying."  "  These  things,  then,"  St.  Hilary  subjoins  to  this 
energetic  paraphrase,  "  being  enacted  by  God,  beyond  the  under- 
standing of  human  nature,  are  not  subject  to  our  mind's  natural  sense, 
because  the  operation  of  Infinite  Eternity  requires  Infinite  concep- 
tion to  measure  it ;  so  that  when  God  was  man.  Immortality  dies, 
the  Eternal  was  buried,  it  is  matter  not  for  reasonings  of  the  under- 
standing, but  for  the  reception  of  His  Power ;  so  again,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  to  be  measured  not  by  the  senses,  but  by  the  [Divine] 
power,  when  for  man  there  is  (jJod ;  for  one  dead,  Immortal ;  of 
buried,  Eternal.  We  then  are  co-raised  by  God  in  Christ  through 
His  Death.  But  since  in  Christ  is  the  fulness  of  Godhead,  we  at 
once  have  an  intimation  of  G  od  the  Father,  co-raising  us  in  Him 
when  dead,  and  that  Christ  Jesus  is  to  be  confessed  as  no  other  than 
God  in  the  fulness  of  Divinity." 

So  do  doctrines,  when  formed  into  no  system  around  any  one 
selected  doctrine,  harmonize  together,  and  so  closely  has  He  blended 
together  His  Sacraments  with  His  own  eternal  glory,  as  with  His 
humiliation,  constituting  them  effluences  of  both  conjointly,  as  in 
outward  form  they  represent  His  lowliness,  in  inward  grace  they 
communicate  His  "  Virtue." 

II. — Passages  in  which  moderns  have  appropriated  to  themselves 
the  privileges  of  Holy  Baptism,  without  thought  of  the  means 
through  which  they  are  conveyed. 

In  the  above  passages  we  have  deprived  ourselves  of  the  strength 
which  God  purposed  to  impart  through  them  to  His  Church  ;  and, 
yet  more,  have  robbed  oiurselves  and  our  flocks  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  greatness  of  the  gift  vouchsafed  to  them  by  God  in  Baptism. 
In  another  class,  we  have  appropriated  to  ourselves  the  gift,  inde- 
pendently of  the  channel  through  which  it  is  conveyed.  And  since 
Baptism,  as  the  means  of  our  union  with  Christ,  is  the  act  which 
conveys  to  us,  either  in  immediate  possession,  or  as  an  earnest,  all 
our  subsequent  spiritual  blessings,  transfers  us  from  being  children 
of  wrath,  to  be  children  of  grace  in  Him,  it  could  not  but  be,  that  it 
would  often  be  alluded  to  by  the  Apostles,  writing  to  Christian 
Churches,  even  when  it  was  not  distinctly  mentioned  ;  and  that  the 
neglect  of  it  must  cause  much  wrong  interpretation  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture.    This  misinterpretation  is,  indeed,  far  wider  than  would  at  first 


110^ 

be  suspected  even  by  those  who  are,  in  some  measure  alive  to  it. 
This  sliall  nov7  be  pointed  out,  first,  in  some  more  specific  instances, 
and  then  in  its  influence  upon  our  interpretation  of  all  those  passages 
of  Scripture  which  speak  of  our  justification,  and  all  other  spiritual 
blessings  therein  summed  up  and  contained. 

We  are,  in  different  passages  of  Holy  Scripture,  said  to  have  been 
"  sealed  by  God,"  or  "  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  ;"  to  "  have  re- 
ceived an  anointing  from  the  Holy  One  ;"  to  "  have  been  anointed 
by  God ;"  and  these  passages,  persons  at  once,  without  doubt  or 
misgiving,  interpret  of  the  inward  and  daily  graces  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  (which  are  also  undoubtedly  involved  in  them,  though  as  the 
result  of  that  first  gift,  the  having  been  made  members  of  Him,  who 
sends  the  Comforter  to  His  Church;)  so  that,  if  any  one  were  to 
propose  to  explain  these  passages  of  Baptism,  as  containing  the  first 
pledge  and  earnest  of  the  Spirit,  I  fear  he  would  be  looked  upon  as 
a  cold  and  lifeless  interpreter,  perhaps  as  a  mere  formalist.  It  will, 
doubtless,  startle  such  to  know  that  this  was,  in  some  passages  at 
least,  the  interpretation  of  all  Christian  antiquity  ;*  and  it  may  serve 
as  an  index  of  our  altered  state  of  religious  belief,  that  most  of  us, 
perhaps,  would  at  first  regard  as  cold  and  formal,  the  interpretation 
which  to  them  spoke  of  the  fulness  of  their  Saviour's  gift.  This 
would,  itself,  be  sufiicient  for  our  piurpose  ;  for  it  is  not  so  much 
abstract  proof  of  the  value  and  greatness  of  our  Lord's  Sacraments, 
that  we  need,  as,  rather,  to  be  convinced  that  our  feelings  have 
undergone  a  change,  that  we  fall  very  far  short  of  the  love  and 
respect  which  the  Fathers  of  the  Christian  Church  bore  to  them. 
And  then  let  us  consider  within  ourselves,  whether,  since  those  holy 
men  realized  in  their  lives  the  ordinances  which  they  loved,  we  must 
not  confess  that  our  lessened  esteem  for  our  Saviour's  gift,  betokens 
a  less  humble  afFectionateness,  fnad,  whether  as  the  result  of  pride 
and  self-will,  it  is  not  likely  to  end  in  unreverential  feelings  towards 
the  Giver.  We  aim  at  receiving  every  thing  directly  from  God's 
hand,  from  His  Spirit  to  ours,  and  so  either  disparage  His  Sacra- 
ments, or  else  would  make  them  means  only,  by  which  our  faith 
might  be  kindled,  to  "ascend  into  heaven,"  and  "  bring  down  Christ 
from  above,"  instead  of  being  content  diligently  to  cleanse  our  own 
hearts,  and  "  keep  His  words,"  that  so  His  gracious  promise  may 
be  fulfilled — "  My  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him, 
and  make  our  abode  with  him."  (John  xiv.  23.) 

This  had  been  an  important  consideration,  quite  independent  of  the 
question,  which  were  the  right  interpretation  of  the  passages  in  ques- 
tion ;  for,  as  there  could  be  no  doubt  which  loved  his  Saviour  most, 
the  interpreter  who  found  Him  every  where  in  Old  Testament  pro- 
phecy, or  he  who  found  him  no  where  ;  so,  also,  could  there  be  little, 

•  See  Note  (D)  at  the  end. 


Ill 

probably,  between  the  character  of  mind,  which  looked  joyously  to 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  his  Saviour's  ordinance,  and  that 
which  regarded  any  reference  to  that  ordinance,  lifeless  and  cold. 
There  could  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  of  this  generally ;  although,  as  was 
before  said,  individuals  xm^X  either  "  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteous- 
ness," or  being  in  error,  might  still  derive  food  for  their  piety,  from 
other  truth  in  God's  rich  storehouse. 

ii.  1.  "  He  Who  establisheth  us  vpith  you  in  Christ,  and  anointed  us,  is  God; 
Who,  also,  is  He  Who  sealed  us,  and  gave  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our 
hearts,"  (2  Cor.  i.  22  :)  "  in  Whom  ye  also,  having  heard  the  v^^ord  of  truth, 
the  gospel  of  your  salvation — in  whom  having  believed  also,  ye  were  sealed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  who  is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance,  until  the 
redemption  of  the  purchased  possession."  (Eph.  i.  13,  14.)  "  Grieve  not  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  were  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption." 
(Eph.  iv.  30.) 

Now,  1,  in  all  these  passages  St.  Paul  speaks  of  this  "  sealing"  as 
as  a  past  action,  which  had  taken  place  at  a  certain  definite  time. 
To  the  Corinthians,  he  says,  "  Who  also  is  he  who  sealed  us  (^  *«■' 
cifpayi<Taixevos)  and  gttve  (^°^s)  us."  To  the  Ephesians,  in  both  places, 
ye  "  ivere*  sealed"  {tc^payiaQnTc) ^  2.  In  one  passage  (Eph.  i.)  this 
sealing  is  mentioned,  as  immediately  following  upon  the  belief  of  the 
Gospel — "  having  believed,  ye  were  sealed  ;"  in  a  second  (Eph,  iv.) 
it  stands  opposed  to  subsequent  performance  of  duty — "  ye  loere 
sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  grieve  Him  not ;"  in  the  third  (2  Cor.  i.) 
it  stands  opposed!  to  God's  subsequent  establishing  them  in  Christ, 
to  their  being  maintained  in  this  state  into  which  they  had  been  brought 
— "  who  establishefA  you,  who  also  anointet^  and  sealec?  you."  3.  The 
word  *'  sealed"  was  already  in  use  among  the  Jews,}  and  is  recog- 
nized by  St.  Paul,  as  designating  the  act  by  which  men  were  brought 
into  covenant  with  God,  and  received  its  privileges.  Now,  it  would, 
indeed,  be  a  very  perverted  mode  of  arguing,  to  infer,  either  that  the 
seal  in  the  Christian  Covenant  only  attested  the  faith  which  already 
existed  (as  in  the  case  of  Abraham,)  or  that  the  seal  of  the  Jewish 

*  E.  V,  in  Eph.  iv.  30.  "  are  sealed,"  in  Eph.  i.  13.  "havebeeh  sealed." 
The  context,  as  well  as  the  word,  is  the  same. 

\  There  is  the  like  contrast  between  the  original  gift,  and  the  looked-for 
continuance  of  it,  in  1  Cor.  i.  5 — 8,  quoted  by  Bode,  as  an  use  of  the  same  me- 
taphor, in  the  matter  of  faith  and  sanctification — "  as  the  witness  of  Christ  was 
confirmed  {iPtPaidieri)  among  you,  so  that  ye  came  behind  in  no  gift,  waiting  for 
the  revelation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  also  shall  confirm  (Seffaitiirei)  you." 
But  the  gifts  spoken  of  here  also  were  bestowed  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  life.     See  further  below,  ii.  3. 

JTalm.  Hieros,  Berachoth.  f.  13.  1.  ap.  Lightf.  ad  Mt.  28,  19.  "  Blessed 
be  He  who  hath  sanctified  His  beloved  from  the  womb,  and  placed  the  sign 
in  his  fllesh,  and  has  sealed  (onn)  His  offspring  with  the  sign  of  the  cove- 
nant." 


113 

covenant  conveyed  the  same  privileges  as  the  Christian ;  for  this 
would  be  to  identify  the  earlier  with  the  later  dispensation  ;  and  as 
one  exposition  unduly  derogates  from  the  Clmstian  Sacrament,  so 
does  the  other  exalt  the  seal  of  the  Jewish  covenant  beyond  what  we 
have  any  certain  warrant  for,  or  even  intimation  of,  from  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. Still,  one  should  suppose,  that  St,  Paul,  when  employing 
terms,  already  in  use  among  the  Jews,  would  apply  them  to  the  cor- 
responding portion  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  Since,  then,  cir- 
cumcision, by  which  the  covenant  was  ratified  to  the  Jew,  was  spoken 
of  as  a  "  seal,"  and  that  by  St.  Paul  also  (Rom.  iv.  11.),  St  Paul,  if 
he  used  the  word  "  seal"  with  reference  to  the  Christian,  would  obvi- 
ously use  it  of  that  by  which  each  person  was  brought  within  the 
Christian  covenant — the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.  But  it  were  the 
very  error  of  the  rationalists  to  suppose,  that  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
when  He  took  the  words  used  in  Jewish  Theology,  and  employed 
them  to  express  Christian  Truth,  conveyed  nothing  more  by  them, 
than  they  would  have  meant  in  the  mouth  of  any  ordinary  Jew  ;  and 
did  not  rather,  when  receiving  them  into  the  service  of  the  sanctuary, 
stamp  them  anew,  and  impress  upon  them  His  own  living  image. 
And  this  is  so ;  for  since  Baptism  is  not  a  mere  initiatory  or  signifi- 
cant rite,  but  is  an  appointed  means  for  conveying  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  language  has  been  actually  conformed  to  our  higher  privileges. 
It  is  not  merely  an  outward  admission  to  an  inward  covenant,  an  ad- 
mission to  privileges  afterwards  to  be  bestowed;  it  is  not  simply  any 
admission  to  any  covenant  at  all ;  it  is  an  admission,  an  incorporation 
into  the  spiritual  body  of  Christ,  and  so  a  spiritual  act,  wherein 
Christ  by  His  Spirit  takes  the  baptized  into  Himself.  So  then  in- 
stead of  the  covenant  being  said  to  be  sealed  to  us,  loe  are  declared 
to  be  "  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;"  being  taken  out  of  our  state  of 
nature,  and  marked,  guarded,  conformed  to  our  Lord ; — marked,  by 
the  sprinkling  of  His  blood,  that  the  destroyer  may  pass  over  us,  and 
SatanJ  have  no  power  upon  us  ;  guarded,  as  His  purchased  posses- 
sion and  peculiar  treasure,  whereon  He  has  affixed  his  seal ;  con- 
formed, in  that  it  places  again  upon  us  the  Creator's  image,  renewing 
us  after  His  likeness,  and  impressing  His  cast,  and,  to  speak  the 
high  truth.  His  features  upon  our  souls,  as  a  seal  gives  its  stamp  to 
the  body,  whereon  it  is  impressed.  And  not  a  present  gift  only,  but 
an  earnest  also  of  larger  gifts,  proportioned  to  our  growth,  since  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  then  first  imparted  to  us  as  Christians,  and  as  His 
Temple,  and  the  "  earnest"  then  given  us  is  a  pledge,  that  unless  we 
wilfully  break  off  the  seal,  we  shall  be  carried  on  to  eternal  life,  with 
larger  instalments  of  our  promised  possession,  until  "  the  possession, 
purchased"  for  us,  by  Christ's  precious  blood-shedding,  shall  be  fully 
bestowed  upon  us,  and  God's  pledge  be  altogether  "redeemed." 
4.  The  Christian  fathers  have,  from  Apostolic  times,  used  the  word 
**  seal,"  as  a  title  of  Christian  Baptism  ;  a  relic  whereof  we  have  in 


113 

the  doctrine  of  our  Church,  that  "  the  promises  of  forgiveness  of 
sins,  and  our  adoption  to  be  the  sons  of  God,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are 
therein  visibly  signed  and  seaUd.''^  (Art.  XXVII.)  Thus  8t.  Hermas 
(about  A.  D.  65 — 81): — "They  must  needs  go  up  through  the 
water,  that  they  may  rest.  For  they  could  not  otherwise  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God,  than  by  laying  aside  the  deathliness  of  their 
former  life.  Those  departed  then  were  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  entered  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  Before*  a  person 
receive  the  Name  of  the  Son  of  God,  he  is  doomed  to  death ;  but 
when  he  receives  that  seal,  he  is  freed  from  death,  and  made  over  to 
life.  But  that  seal  is  water,  into  which  men  go  down  bound  over  to 
death,  but  arise,  being  assigned  over  to  life.  That  seal,  then,  was 
preached  to  them  also,  and  they  made  use  of  it,  to  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God."  The  least  which  this  would  shew,  is  that  such 
was  the  received  usage  of  the  word,  "  seal,"  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul : 
but  no  one,  admitting  this,  will  readily  suppose,  that  St.  Paul  would 
have  used  the  term  with  regard  to  Christians,  unless  he  had  meant  it 
to  be  understood  of  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.  And  this  usage  of  the 
word,  to  which  we  have  such  early  testimony,  is  found  in  all  Churches, 
from  that  time  onwards  ;  and  their  use  of  it  plainly  agrees  with,  and 
is  derived  from  St.  Paul's  use  of  it  in  these  places  in  which  he  is 
speaking  of  Christian  privileges,  (sometimes  the  passages  are  directly 
quoted,)  not  from  that  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  wherein  he  is 
speaking  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham.  For  the  Fathers  uniformly 
speak  of  Baptism  as  sealing,  and  so  keeping,  guardmg,  preserving 
us,  as  it  were  a  seal  placed  upon  us,\  marking  us  as  His,  giving  us 
His  image.  The  school  of  Calvin  calls  it  a  seal,  ratification,  or  out- 
ward mark,  not  of  us,  but  of  God's  covenant  only.  The  two  meta- 
phors are  essentially  distinct ;  the  modern  usage  is  borrowed  from 
St.  Paul's  description  of  the  older  covenant,  whereof  circumcision  was 
the  seal,  but  was  no  Sacrament ;  that  of  the  Fathers  agrees  with 
this  reference  to  Baptism,  which,  being  a  Sacrament,  seals,  guards, 
preserves  us,X  and  so  is  an  earnest  to  us  of  the  fuller  mercies  yet  in 
store. 

*  L.  3.  simil.  9.  no.  16,  quoted  by  Binp^ham,  Christian  Antiq.  b.  xi.  c.  I. 

t  Bellarmine  (de  Sacram.  L.  i.  c.  17.)  remarking,  that  Scripture  saith, 
Abraham  "  received  the  sign  (CT^z/^eroi/)  of  circumcision,  the  seal  ((r^payWu)  of 
the  faith  which  he  had,"  &c.  infers  that  circumcision  was  a  sign  to  the  Jews, 
a  seal  to  Abraham  only  :  he  remarks,  also,  that,  often  as  St.  Paul  speaks  of 
circumcision,  he  does  not,  even  when  directly  speaking  of  its  benefits  to  the 
Jews,  (Rom.  iii.)  mention  its  being  a  seal  of  faith.  J.  Gerhard  (de  Sacram. 
387.)  contends,  in  answer,  that  there  is  no  difference  between  sign  and  seal. 
But  the  difference  remains  between  Abraham's  case  and  that  of  any  Jew,  that 
to  Abraham  circumcision  was  a  seal  of  God's  approval  of  his  previous  faith, 
to  his  descendants  it  was  a  sign  only  of  their  being  taken  into  the  covenant, 
in  which  a  like  faith  was  to  be  exercised. 

X  See  Note  (E)  at  the  end.    Coteler  (on the  Apostol.  Const,  ii.  39.  "When 

4* 


114 

"  Again,"  says  St.  Chrysostom,  "  the  being  sealed  is  a  mark  of 
great  Providence  ;  that  we  are  not  '  set  apart'  only,  not  '  taken  by 
lot'  only  {K^np^e  i>a)  but '  sealed.'  For  as  one  who  would  make  mani- 
fest those  who  fell  to  him,  so  also  God  set  us  apart  that  we  should 
believe,  sealed  us,  that  we  might  inherit  the  things  to  come,"  "Again 
through  the  things  past  he  establishes  those  to  come.  For  if  it  is 
He,  Who  establisheth  us  to  Christ,  (i.  e.  Who  suffereth  us  not  to 
be  broken  from  the  faith  toward  Christ,)  and  '  He  also  who  anointed 
us,  and  gave  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts,'  how  shall  He  not  give  us  the 
things  to  come  ?  for  if  He  gave  the  beginnings  and  the  foundations, 
and  the  root  and  the  fountain,  i.  e.  the  true  knowledge  of  Himself, 
the  participation  of  the  Spirit,  how  shall  He  not  give  the  result  thereof? 
For  if  these  things  are  given  for  the  sake  of  the  other,  much  more 
shall  he  Who  gave  them,  give  those  also ;  and  if  he  gave  these 
things  to  us  being  enemies,  much  more  shall  He  bestow  those  upon 
us  having  become  friends.  Wherefore  He  does  not  simply  say,  '  the 
Spirit,'  but  calls  it '  the  earnest,'  that  having  the  earnest,  you  may  be 
of  good  cheer  as  to  the  whole.  For  unless  he  had  purposed  to  give 
the  whole.  He  would  not  have  given  the  earnest ;  to  be  in  vain  and 
fruitless !" 

This  testimony  of  the  Fathers  is  again  borne  out  by  the  Liturgies 
of  the  universal  Church.  East  and  West  agree  in  calling  Baptism  a 
seal,  an  impress,  a  guardian  mark  to  those  baptized  ;  the  baptized 
themselves,  (in  the  language  of  the  Revelations,)  "  the  sealed."  The 
Liturgies,  variously  as  they  use  the  term,  still  harmonize  wholly 
with  the  Fathers,  using  it  in  exactly  the  same  references,  and  thus 
the  more  evince  how  Christian  Antiquity  was  of  one  mind,  the  agree- 
ment of  the  Fathers  attesting  the  antiquity  of  the  liturgies,  the  con- 
sent of  the  liturgies  proving  the  more  that  we  have,  in  this  consent  of 
the  Fathers,  not  an  accidental  agreement  of  the  opinions  of  individuals, 
but  the  voice  of  their  respective  Churches,  The  Liturgies  use  the 
word  "  seal,"  or  "  sealed,"  chiefly  of  the  great  sacramental  act  of 

the  Gentiles  would  repent,  we  receive  them  into  the  Church,  that  they  may 
hear  the  word,  but  do  not  communicate  with  them,  until,  having  received  the 
seal,  they  are  consecrated,'''')  says, "  both  words  mean  Baptism.  For  the  Greek 
Fathers  call  '  the  washing  of  regeneration,'  '  the  seal,^  ''the  seal  of  the  Gospel,'' 
the  Master's,  or  the  Lord's  seal,  or  in  the  Lord,  or  in  Christ,  the  seal  of  the 
faith,  the  impress  of  the  truth,  the  seal  of  the  second  life,  the  seal  of  the  Names  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  saving  impress,  the 
Divine,  holy,  mystical,  spiritual,  heavenly,  royal,  immortalizing,  inviolable,  in- 
dissoluble, unassailable  seal,  &c.  to  seal,  to  seal  by  Baptis?n ;  the  baptized  they 
call  the  sealed,  the  unbaptized.  the  unsealed.  The  Latins  call  it  the  mark  (sig- 
num,)  the  mark  of  Faith,  the  mark  of  Christ,  the  seal  (sigillum,)  the  impress 
(signaculum,)  the  impress  of  Faith,  the  sealing  up  (obsignatio,)  of  Faith,  or  of 
Baptism.  They  say,  to  mark  (signare,)  to  seal  up  (obsignare,)  to  seal  surely 
(consignare,)  by  Baptism ^ 


115 

Baptism  itself  ;*  but  they  regard  that  great  mystery,  as  casting  a 
portion  of  its  radiance  before  and  behind,  and  giving  efficacy  to  other 

*  In  the  following  extracts  the  word  "  seal,"  has  been  kept  for  the  Syriac 
j  ID^,  or  ^K£)  /N^^  y  "  mark,"  for  |VO<nn  •,  but  this  has  been  for  the 
sake  of  precision  only ;  the  meaning  is  the  same ;  only  that  jVQ(g>n  •  is 
rather  the  "  impress  "  of  the  seal,  the  image  impressed  upon  the  soul,  and  so 
corresponding  to  the  "  character"  of  Latin  Theology.  In  Bar  Bahlulitis  ex- 
plained by  JU-AA/  and  ^\a,,  the  same  word  in  Arabic,  which  occurs  also  in  the 
form  fVAA/^  In  Assem.  Bibl.  or.  t.  i.  p.  31.  S.  Ephraem  is  related  to  have  re- 
ceived, when  28,  the  y  VQ  ig\n»  j^JO^Xvo:  "seal  of  Baptism,"  1.  e. 
Baptism  itself. 

The  three  words  are  joined,  as  synonymous,  and  as  belonging  to  Baptism, 
in  a  hymn  of  S.  Ephraem,  on  the  oil,  "  Dear  is  the  oil  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
as  His  minister  and  disciple,  cleaveth  it  unto  Him,  wherewith  he  mar/^rerf  priests 
and  Christs  :  for  the  Holy  Spirit  with  oil  impresses  His  mark  upon  His  sheep; 
for  as  the  seal-ring  impresseth  its  mark  on  the  wax,  so  is  the  hidden  seal 
(ib^OlS.^  of  the  Spiht  stamped  (^Ci^lSj^)  by  oil  upon  the  bodies  of 
those  anointed  in  Baptism,  and  in  Baptism  they  are  marked"  ()VO  >  a*. 
Ass.  ib.  p.  94. 

Old  Gallican. 
Consecration  of  Font.     (Ass.  ii.  40.) 

"  that  whosoever  is  baptized  in  it,  may  become  a  temple  of  the  living 

God,  through  the  remission  of  sins,  in  the  name  of  God  the  Father  Almighty, 
and  Christ  Jesus  His  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  (who  will  judge  the  world  by 
fire)  through  this  seal  which  abideth  for  ever  and  ever." 

Milan. 
(4th  cent.) 

In  the  Church  of  Milan,  at  least,  in  the  time  of  St.  Ambrose,  a  portion  con- 
taining 2  Cor.  i.  22.  was  read  as  a  baptismal  lesson.     See  the  end  of  Note  E. 

Old  Gothic. 
Blessing  of  the  People,  (i.  37.) 

"  Let  the  heavenly  seal  which  Thou  hast  vouchsafed  to  bestow  upon  them, 
0  Lord,  continue  in  them  f  ,  that,  protected  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  may  be 
thought  worthy  to  receive  increase  of  Faith,  protection  of  soul,  health  of  bodies. 
Grant  then  the  riches  of  an  unspotted  life,  &c." 

Coptic. 
Prayer  for  Catechumen,  (i.  164.) 

" make  him  fit  to  receive,  pure  and  without  spot,  the  light  and  seal  of 

Thy  Christ,  and  the  gift  of  Thy  Holy  and  Consubstantial  Spirit. 


lie 

acts  connected  with  it.  The  Church,  whose  doctrines  they  express, 
regards  our  Lord,  as  "favorably  allowing  this  charitable  work   of" 

GreeJc. 
(i.  337.) 

"  — make  him  a  reason-endowed  sheep  of  the  flock  of  Thy  Christ,  an  honor- 
able member  of  Thy  Church,  a  son  and  heir  of  Thy  kingdom,  that  walking 
according  to  Thy  commandments,  and  keeping  the  seal  unbroken,  and  to  the 
end  preserving  the  garment  undefiled,  he  may  attain  to  the  blessedness  of  the 
saints  in  Thy  kingdom." 

Coptic. 
(i.  166,  7.) 

"  Make  him  a  sheep  of  the  Holy  flock  of  Thy  Christ,  an  elect  member  of 
the  Church  Catholic,  a  clean  vessel,  a  child  of  light,  an  heir  of  Thy  kingdom, 
that  he  may  strive,  according  to  the  commands  of  Christ,  and  keep  the  seal 
immovable,  and  preserve  the  garment  incorruptible,  and  obtain  the  felicity  of 
Thy  chosen,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  through  Whom,  &c." 

Revised  Syriac. 
(i.  220.) 

After  part  quoted  above,  p.  38.     " to  the  end  that  they  may  be  sheep 

of  the  true  Shepherd,  sealed  with  the  seal  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  and  honora- 
ble members  in  the  body  of  Thy  Holy  Church,  that  they  may  be  worthy  of  the 
blessed  hope,  and  of  the  appearing  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

Preface  to  Prayer,     (i.  221.) 

"Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  King 
of  Heaven,  undefilable,  invisible,  the  only  wise  God,  in  Whom  the  whole  fami- 
ly in  heaven  and  on  earth  is  named ;  through  Whom  we  have  received  ac- 
cess ;  in  Whom  we  have  been  sealed  unto  the  day  of  Redemption,  Who  in 
Unity  is  conceived,  and  in  Trinity  is  known,  and  beheved,  and  adored,  and 
glorified." 

Prayer,     (i.  223.) 

" Now  then,  O  Lord,  lover  of  man,  keep  these  Thy  servants  and  Thy 

maidens,  who  have  known  Thy  truth,  and  approach  to  receive  the  mark  of 
adoption  of  sons." 

Jb.  i.  227, 8.  Apostolic,  by  Severus,  ii.  272.  Maronite,  by  James  ofSarug,  ii.335. 

" these  Thy  servants  who  are  prepared  for  Holy  Baptism,  that  in  Thee 

they  may  be  marked  to  life,  and  born  to  spirituality,  and  be  written  in  the 
kindred  of  Thy  promises,  and  so  all  the  hurtfulness  of  the  Adversary  may  de- 
part far  from  their  life,  and  Thy  seal  may  be  to  them  a  cleansing  and  a  pre- 
servative." 

Chaldee-Malalar. 
Bidding  Prayer  by  Deacon,     (i.  178,  9.) 

"  — He  delivered  this  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism  to  the  holy  Apostles  when 
He  sent  them  to  call  the  people,  and  to  the  conversion  of  men ;  and  com- 
manded them  to  make  it  the  beginning  of  the  faith, — and  the  sign  of  them  who 
were   converted  from  error  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  truth.     But  the 


117 

theirs,  in  bringing  new  members  to  Him,  and  so,  believing  that  He 
anticipated  a  portion  of  His  grace,  to  preserve  them  during  the  inter- 
Apostles  handed  down  this  form  to  the  priests  and  rulers  of  the  flock  of  Christ, 
to  be  to  them  a  mark*  and  an  instruction  in  all  generations.  And  now  be- 
hold !  many  are  prepared  to  receive  the  gift  of  Baptism  for  the  confession  of 
the  precious  Passion  of  our  Saviour,  their  soul  in  faith  and  love  conformable 
to  Him,  who  by  regeneration  renewed  our  nature,  and  remitted  our  sin,  and 
raised  our  fall,  and  they  wait  for  the  holy  seal,  and  through  the  Baptism  of 
remission  to  become  members,  and  conformed  to  Him  who  is  the  Head  of  the 
Church,  and  first-born  from  the  dead." 

Thanksgiving  for  Baptism  and  Intercessory,  ib.  i.  183. 

"  Let  us  pray  for  these  our  sons  and  daughters,  who  are  about  to  receive 
the  mark  of  life,  renouncing  Satan  and  all  his  works." 

Prayer  for  Infants,  Eight  Days'  Old.     Greek,  i.  121.  Antioch,  ib.  i.  203. 

" let  the  light  of  Thy  countenance  be  marked  upon  this  Thy  servant, 

and  let  the  Cross  of  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son  be  marked  upon  his  heart  and 
thoughts,  that  he  may  flee  the  vanity  of  the  world,  &c." 

"  Grant  that  Thy  holy  Name  may  abide  upon  him,  that  at  the  fitting  hour 
he  may  come  to  Thy  Holy  Cathohc,  and  Apostohc  Church,  and  be  perfected 
by  the  awful  Sacraments  of  Thy  Clirist,  and  walk  according  to  thy  precepts, 
and  preserve  unhurt  the  seal,  and  obtain  the  blessedness  of  thy  chosen,  through 
the  goodness,  and  loving-kindness  towards  man  of  Tliy  Only-Begotten  Son, 
with  whom  Blessed  art  Thou,  with  Thy  All-Holy,  Good,  and  Life-giving 
Spirit,  now,  &c." 

Apostolic  Syriac  from  Gre^A,  by  James  ofEdessa. 
(i.  263.) 

"  —  Thou,  Lord  God,  stretch  forth  the  right  hand  of  Thy  mercy  over  this 
Thy  maid-servant,  who  is  prepared  for  Holy  Baptism,  and  sanctify  and  cleanse, 
and  brighten  her  by  Thy  sin-remitting  hyssop,  and  bless  and  keep  Thy  people 
and  Thy  heritage  ;  and  as  by  Thy  Baptism  Thou  hast  clothed  us  with  the  robe 
of  glory,  and  the  mark  of  the  Holy  Life-giving  Spirit,  &c." 

Antioch,  hy  Severus. 
(ii.  282,  3.) 

"  O  Lord  God,  who  entrustedst  this  spiritual  ministry  of  Holy  Baptism  to 
the  godly  Apostles,  perfect  now  by  us,  Thy  defiled  and  sinful  servants,  this 
soul,  which  is  prepared  for  Holy  Baptism,  that  it  may  be  adorned  by  the  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Who  is  given  to  it  from  Thee,  that  by  Him  it  may  be 
marked  unto  life,  and  written  among  the  children  of  grace,  and  raise  to  Thee 
befitting  praise,  and  to  Thy  Father,  and  to  Thy  Holy  Spirit." 

Maronite,  by  James,  Bishop  of  Sarug. 
Blessing,  (ii.  316.) 

"God,  who  hath  called  thee  by  His  grace,  and  brought  thee  by  His  mercy 

*  "  This  hath  made  us  a  royal  flock."  Chrys.  ad  Eph.  iv.  "  Through  the 
all -holy  Spirit  we  have  been  made  a  divine  flock."  Theod.  ad  Eph.  iv.  See 
also  Note  C- 


118 

val  until  they  are  fully  prepared  for  Baptism,  they  ventured  to  affix 
His  *'  seal"  on  the  Catechumens  ;*  or,  after  Baptism,!  they  again 

to  receive  the  holy  marlt,  He  fit  thee  for  the  garment  of  redemption  from  the 
waters  of  Baptism,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed  with  the  robe  of  glory,  through 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  be  made  meet  for  the  adoption  of  sons 
through  Holy  Baptism  for  ever." 

Chaldee-Malabar. 

Prayer  on  the  Consecration  of  Oil  to  be  mingled  with  the  Water  of  Baptism. 

(ii.  196,  7.) 

"  Now  then  also,  0  Lord,  let  that  great  and  divine  Sacrament  be  perfected 
through  Thy  grace,  and  may  grace  from  the  gift  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit  come  and 
dwell  and  abide  upon  this  oil,  and  bless  it,  and  seal  it,  and  sanctify  it,  in  the 
Name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  let  this  oil  of  anoint- 
ing be,  by  the  power  of  Thy  grace,  such,  that  it  may  impart  to  those  who  are 
anointed  therewith  in  the  life-giving  impress,  given  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  perfect  and  true  holiness,  and  the 
high  participation  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  in  this  Baptism,  wherewith  he  is 
baptized  in  the  likeness  of  the  Passion,  and  Death  and  Resurrection  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ." 

On  pouring  the  Oil  into  the  Font.     (ib.  201.) 

"  These  waters  are  signed  and  sanctified  with  the  holy  oil,  that  they  may 
become  a  new  womb,  bearing  a  spiritual  birth  through  sin-remitting  Baptism 
in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  oftheHolyGhost,  forever  and 
ever." 

Syriac  Hymn  in  Liturgy  of  Severus.  (ii.  299.)     Jerusalem,  (ii.  237,  243,  260.) 
"Descend,  our  brother  who  art  sealed." 

*  Old  Ambrosian. 
Signing  with  Cross  after  Exorcism,  (ii.  45,  50.) 

"  Receive  the  sign  of  the  cross,  keep  the  Divine  commands  ;  to-day  thou  art 
re-born  by  the  word  of  God,  and  formed  by  heavenly  light.  Now,  then,  look 
for  the  heavenly  promises,  and  the  coming  of  God  Almighty,  that  thou  mayest 
hope  for  the  coming  of  the  Word  incarnate,  born  of  a  Virgin,  announced  to 
believers,  by  invocation  of  Whom  thou  art  illuminated,  and  by  whose  seal 
thou  art  marked  in  the  forehead  by  this  mark  which  shall  not  be  effaced, 
in  the  Name  of  f  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  in  the  Name  of  f  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Son,  who  shall  come  to  judge  quick  and  dead,  and  the  world  by 
fire.     Amen. 

"  Grant  that  the  inscription  of  the  mark  of  the  holy  t  cross  of  Thy  Only-Be- 
gotten, may  protect  this  little  one,  ignorant  of  ill,  &c."     See  further  p.  60- 

Old  Roman. 

Sacramentary  of  Gelassius  (MS.  of  7th  cent.  Ass.  i-  4,  5.)  Gregorian  (ib.  p.23,) 
Tours  (9th  cent.  ib.  p.  44.)     Beauvais  (10th  cent.  p.  47.)     Others,  p.  49, 


t  See  p.  122. 


119 

visibly  and  formally  affixed  it,  thereby  representing  to  the  mind  what 
has  just  been  worked  invisibly  by  the  Holy  Spirit.     And  since  this 

50,  52,  53.  Poictiers  (9th  cent.  i.  61,  ii.  59.)  Roman  Ordo  Bapt.  Parvul. 
(ii.  15.)  Gellon  (ii.  56.)  Chelle  (9th  cent.  ii.  61.)  S.  Germain  (9th  cent, 
ii.  64.)  Moisac  (9th  cent.  ii.  67.)  Gladbach  (ii.  73.)  Lodi  (ii.  77.)  Old 
Limoges  (ii.  84.) 

Prayer  in  making  Catechumens. 

"  Open  to  them  the  gate  of  Thy  righteousness,  that  being  endued  with  the 
mark  (signo)  of  Thy  wisdom,  they  may  be  freed  from  the  foulness  of  all  evil 
desires,  and  in  the  sweet  savour  of  Thy  commands,  may  serve  Thee  joyfully 
in  the  Church,  and  profit  from  day  to  day,  that  they  may  be  made  meet  to 
approach  to  the  grace  of  Thy  Baptism,  receiving  the  medicine."  [^Grego- 
rian. The  same  till  "  day  to  day,"  then  "  signed  (signati)  by  the  promises  of 
Thy  grace,  through  Jesus  Christ  Thy  Son,  who  will  come  to  judge,"  &c.  i. 
23.] 

"  Lord,  we  beseech  Thee,  mercifully  hear  our  prayers,  and  keep  these  Thy 
elect  by  the  virtue  of  the  Cross  of  the  Lord,  with  whose  impress  we  mark 
them,  that  retaining  the  rudiments  of  the  greatness  of  glory,  by  the  keeping 
of  Thy  commandments,  they  may  be  accounted  worthy  to  come  to  the  glory 
of  the  regeneration." 

Exorcism. 

Sacram.  of  Gelassius  (i.  6.)  Gregorian  (i.  24.)  Tours  (i.  45.)  Beauvais 
(i.  46.)  Remiremont  (i.  47.)  Others  p.  50,  51,  52.  Liege  (i.  82.)  Severinus 
(i.  90.)  Roman  Ordo  Bapt.  Parvul.  (ii.  16.)  Chelle  (ii.  61.)  S.  Germain 
(ii.  64.)  Moisac  (ii.  67.)     Limoges  (ii-  85,  86.) 

"  By  this  holy  mark  of  the  Cross,  which  we  place  upon  their  foreheads,  thou 
accursed  Devil,  dare  not  to  injure  [them]"  or,  "  This  holy  mark — dare  not  to 
injure."     (Liege,  Limoges.) 

Gothic  and  Old  Gallican. 
For  an  Infant.     (Ass.  i.  29.) 

"  Let  them,  0  Lord,  before  they  know  good  or  evil,  be  signed  with  the  seal 
of  Thy  Cross. 

"  Receive  the  seal  of  Christ ;  take  the  words  of  God  ;  be  enlightened  by  the 
word  of  the  Lord  ;  for  this  day  hast  thou  been  confessed  by  Christ. 

"  I  sign*  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 


*  This  form  is  found  with  variations  in  several  of  the  Gallican  forms  : — 
In  MS.  of  Remiremont  of  11th  cent. — "  Receive  the  seal  of  God  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  (Gladbach,  ii.  72.)  I  sign  thee  in 
the  forehead  in  the  Name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  thou  mayest  trust  in 
Him  ;  I  bless  thine  eyes,  that  thou  mayest  see  His  brightness  ;  ears,  that  thou 
mayest  hear  the  word  of  His  truth ;  nose,  that  thou  mayest  perceive  the  savour 
of  His  sweetness  ;  breast,  that  thou  mayest  believe  in  Him  ;  shoulders,  that 
thou  mayest  take  the  yoke  of  His  service ;  mouth,  that  thou  mayest  confess 
Him,  Who  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit  liveth  and  reigneth  for  ever 
and  ever,  Amen.  (Ass.  i.  47.)     I  sign  thee  with  the  seal  of  faith,  in  the  Name 


120 

was  done  in  the  form  of  the  Saviour's  cross,  and  the  term  "  seal"  ap- 
pHed  to  that  act  of  impressing  the  cross,  and  it  is  in  itself  the  more 
probable  that  the  word  "  sealing"  was  connected  with  a  correspond- 

Ghost,  that  thou  mayest  be  a  Christian  ;  thine  eyes,  that  thou  mayest  see  the 
brightness  of  God  ;  ears,  that  thou  mayest  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord  ;  nose, 
that  thou  mayest  smell  the  sweet  savour  of  Christ ;  speech,  that  thou  mayest 
confess  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost ;  heart,  that  thou  mayest  believe  the  in- 
divisible Trinity.     Peace  be  with  thee,  through  Jesus  Christ." 

Collect,     (ib.  35.) 

"  — that  the  Enemy  recognizing  the  impress  (character)  of  the  Divine  in- 
scription, may  confess  that  what  has  now  begun  to  be  Thine,  is  alien  from 
him  through  the  sign  of  the  cross." 

Greeh. 
(i.  126.) 

"  Bless  this  child  ;  driving  from  him  every  power  of  the  enemy  through  the 
marking  of  the  form  of  Thy  Cross  ;  for  Thou  art  the  guardian  of  children,  that, 
having  Holy  Baptism  vouchsafed  to  him,  he  may  obtain  a  share  with  the  Elect 
of  Thy  kingdom,  being  guarded  with  us,  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy,  and  Con- 
substantial,  and  undivided  Trinity." 

Apostolic  by  Severus.  (ii.  278.)     Revised  Syriac.  (i.  232.)     Church  of 
Jerusalem,  (ii.  250, 253.) 

Before  Abrenunciation. 

"  He  is  sealed  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  Amen  f,  and  of  the  Son,  Amen  f, 
and  of  the  Living  and  Holy  Spirit,  Amen  f,  to  life  everlasting.  Amen, 


of,  &c.     I  place  the  sign  of  the  Saviour,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  on  thy  fore- 
head, &c."     (Soissons,  ib,  51.  and  others,  p.  49,  53.) 

"  I  sign  thine  eyes  with  the  seal  of  God  the  Father,  &c."  (Jumiege,  beg.  of 
11th  cent.  ii.  70.) 

"  The  seal  of  God  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  keep  thee 
sound  all  thy  life,  that  the  Devil  may  have  no  power  over  thee,  but  the  Divine 
Trinity  may  reign  in  thee  to  life  eternal,  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen."  (Ju- 
miege, ii.  70.) 

"  I  give  thee  the  seal  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  thy  right  hand,  that  thou 
mayest  sign  thyself,  and  defend  thee  from  the  adversary,  and  remain  in  the 
Catholic  Faith,  and  have  eternal  life,  and  live  with  the  Lord  for  ever,  world 
without  end."  (Jumiege,  ii.  70.) 

"  I  sign  thy  forehead  that  Thou  mayest  receive  the  Cross  of  the  Lord ;  I 
sign  thy  ears,  that  thou  mayest  hear  the  Divine  commands  ;  I  sign  thine  eyes, 
that  thou  mayest  see  the  brightness  of  God  ;  I  sign  thy  mouth,  that  thou  mayest 
speak  the  words  of  life  ;  I  sign  thy  breast,  that  thou  mayest  believe  in  God. 
I  sign  thee  altogether  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  thou  mayest  have  eternal  life,  and  live  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen." — (Modern  Roman,  ii.  23.)  "  Receive  the  seal  of  God  the  Father 
Almighty,  as  well  in  thy  forehead  as  in  thy  heart,  that  thou  mayest  be  able  to 
fulfil  the  precepts  of  his  law."     (Id.  ii.  92.) 


121 

ing  outward  act,  and  such  an  outward  act,  "  the  seahng  of  the  fore- 
head" is  actually  spoken  of  by  St.  John,  it  is  far  the  most  likely  that 

Shorter  form  by  Severus,  in  caise  of  Danger,  ii.  301. 

"  He  is  sealed  f  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,  f,  to  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  Only-Begotten  Son,  f,  and  to  the  worship  of  the  All-holy  Spirit." 

Maronite. 
ii.  316. 
"  N.  is  sealed  as  a  lamb  in  the  flock  of  Christ,  who  hath  come  to  Holy  Bap- 
tism in  the  Name  of  the  Father,"  &c. 

Revised  Syriac.  (i.  234.)     Apost.  hy  Severus,  (ii.  279.) 
JSxorcism. 
"  We  call  on  Thee,  Lord  God,  Creator  of  all  visible  and  invisible ;  and 
placing  our  hands  on  this  Thy  creature,  and  sealing  him  in  Thy  Name,  O 
Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  &c." 

Prayer,  Short  form  by  Severus,  ii.  301. 
"  O  God,  lover  of  mankind,  expel  from  this  soul,  which  comes  to  approach 
to  Thy  H0I5'  Baptism,  all  spirits  of  wickedness  by  the  mark  of  the  Cross  of 
Thy  Only-Begotten  Son." 

Maro7iite. 

ii.  327. 

After  Exorcism. 

"  Now  then  I  seal  him,  and  protect  him  from  all  power  of  demons,  in  the 
Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Maronite. 
ii.  330. 

Benediction  of  Oil. 
"  Holy  and  Glorious,  who  by  the  anointing  of  His  mysteries  anointed  to 
Himself  Prophets  and  Priests,  that  it  might  be  a  mark  to  the  sheep  of  His 
pasture ;  0  Lord,  let  Thy  Virtue  come  from  the  highest  heights,  and  dwell  in 
this  oil,  that  in  it  may  be  figured  the  mysteries  of  Thy  Christ,  and  that  it  may 
be  a  mark  to  the  sheep  of  Thy  flock,  and  a  purifying  Hyssop,  and  a  pledge  of 
holiness  to  the  bodies  of  Thy  faithful." 

Maronite. 

ii.  332,  348. 

"  He  is  marked  as  a  lamb  in  the  flock  of  Christ  with  the  living  oil  of  the 

Divine  Anointing  in  the  Name  of  the  Living  Father,  to  life,  Amen  ;  In  the 

Name  of  the  Living  Only-Begotten  Son  to  life.  Amen  ;  In  the  Name  of  the 

Holy  Spirit  to  life  everlasting.  Amen." 

ii.  334. 

"  O  Lord,  let  Thy  Living  and  Holy  Spirit  come,  and  dwell,  and  rest  on  the 
head  of  this  Thy  servant,  and  let  him  be  marked  ixiThy  Name,  Li  vin-j  Father, 
in  the  Name  of  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son,  and  of  Thy  Spiiit,  the  Comforter, 
who  remitteth  our  sins  now,  &c.  And  be  the  body  of  Thy  servant  and  the 
soul  of  Thy  marked  one,  sanctified." 


122 

St.  Paul,  when  using  this  same  word  of  the  Corinthian  and  Ephesian 
Churches,  alluded  to  such  an  act,  and  that  the  use  of  the  cross  at 
Baptism  was  coeval  with  Christian  Baptism  itself,  which  inserts  us 
into  His  Cross  and  Passion,  and  imparts  to  us  its  saving  virtue.  It 
was  plainly  also  a  more  pious  act,  which  marked  the  first  approaches 
to  Christian  Baptism,  in  the  admission  to  be  Catechumens  of  the 
Church,  by  the  solemn  impress  of  the  Cross,  and  so  brought  them 
in,  as  it  were,  within  the  outer  court,  and  fenced  them  round  by  it, 
than  to  leave  them  stray  sheep  as  before,  calling  them  only  by  the 
voice  of  human  shepherds,  but  in  no  solemn  way  of  devotion,  conse- 
crating these  beginnings  of  their  return  to  the  true  fold,  and  to  the 
Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their  souls. 

It  would  appear  then,  that  the  interpretation  which  perhaps  most 
among  us  would  in  the  first  instance  have  looked  upon  as  cold  and 
formal,  is  certainly  true  ;  and  if  so,  it  may  well  be  a  warning  how  we 

Greek. 
Anointing  just  before  Baptism.     (Rubric,  ii.  143.) 

"  And  he  makes  the  mark  of  a  cross  on  the  forehead,  chest  and  back,  say- 
ing,  '  The  servant  of  God ,  is  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness,  in  the 

Name  of,  &c.'    And  he  seals  his  chest,  back,  &c." 

Maronite. 
ii.  347. 
"  O  Good  Shepherd,  and  Finder  of  the  lost,  who  with  the  mark  of  the  Trin- 
ity didst  mark  Thy  flock,  that  they  may  be  kept  from  fierce  wolves,  keep  them 
by  Thy  glorious  Name." 

j^ntioch  hy  Severus. 
Hymn.  (li.  297.) 
"  This  is  the  oil  which  outwardly  anoints  the  reason-endowed  lamb,  which 
Cometh  to  Baptism.     But  the  Holy  Spirit  seals  it  secretly,  and  Divinely  in- 
dwelleth  and  sanctifieth." 

Brief  form  by  Severus.     (ii-  302.) 
"  He  is  sealed  with  the  oil  of  gladness,  that  he  may  become  worthy  of  the 
adoption  of  sons  through  regeneration,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Amen,  and 
of  the  Son,  Amen,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen,  to  life  everlasting. 

After  Baptism.     Latin.     (Gellon,  ii.  55.) 
"  Afterwards  he  marks  him  in  the  forehead  with  a  cross  with  Chrism  say- 
ing, '  The  sign  of  Christ  to  life  eternal.     Peace  be  with  you.'  " 

See  further  Note  M,  Baptismal  Liturgies,  signing  with  the  Cross. 

Syriac. 

Short  form  by  Severus.     (ii.  305.) 

"  With  holy  Chrism  the  sweet  savour  of  Christ,  God,  the  seal  of  true  faith, 

and  the  completion  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  he  is  sealed  in  the  Name 

of  the  Father,  Amen,  and  of  the  Son,  Amen,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen." 


123 

hold  any  thing,  which  ties  us  down  (as  men  speak)  to  Christ's  Sacra- 
ments, to  be  cold  or  formal ;  for  in  this  case  it  will  be  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  which  we  have  ignorantly  suspected  of  teaching  coldly  and 
lifelessly.  Not  as  though  the  Ancient  Church  supposed  the  Apostle 
here  to  speak  of  a  sealing,  which,  having  taken  place  once  for  all, 
would  then  remain,  as  it  were,  on  a  lifeless  mass  of  goods,  or  keep 
us  safe  without  any  effort,  self-denial  or  prayer ;  but  rather,  that  as  a 
living  seal  stamped  upon  our  souls  by  the  Spirit  of  life,  and  bearing 
with  it  the  impress  of  the  Divine  Nature,  it  would  renew  continually 
in  our  souls  the  image  of  Him  who  created  us,  our  Father,  our  Re- 
deemer, our  Sanctilier,  make  us  more  and  more  wholly  His,  more 
partakers  of  that  Nature  ;  and  that  we,  having  that  "  seal  of  God  upon 
our  foreheads"  (Rev.  ix.  4.)  and  our  hearts,  the  Angel  of  the  bottom- 
less pit  should  not  have  any  power  to  hurt  us,  unless  we  allow  it  to  be 
obliterated.  The  difference  between  the  two  interpretations,  as  before 
said,  is  this — the  one  would  date  this  sealing  from  the  time  when  any 
man  ceases  to  oppose  the  workings  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  (which 
might  unobjectionably  be  spoken  of  under  the  name  "  conversion,"  if 
the  term  were  confined  to  denote  the  actual  change  of  such  a  man, 
not  used  to  exclude  the  belief  of  previous  gifts  in  Baptism) ;  the 
other  would  look  upon  it  as  our  Saviour's  gift  in  His  Sacrament  of 
Baptism,  wherein  all  the  gracious  influences  of  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
as  well  those  which  any  of  us  contumaciously  reject  as  those  which 
we  at  last  admit,  are  pledged  to  us  in  the  "  earnest"  then  given. 

We  may  learn  very  much  by  all  such  instances,  in  which  our  own 
(as  we  suppose  Christian)  views  differ  from  the  teaching  of  God's 
word ;  and  were  we  to  watch,  and  so  correct  also,  all  the  instances 
in  which  (with  a  but  half-acknowledged  repugnance  or  distate)  we 
glide  over  statements  of  doctrine,  or  practice,  or  history,  which  are 
not  in  accordance  with  our  state  of  feeling,  we  should  learn  far  more, 
and  become  far  completer  Christians,  than  we  now  are.  For  then 
we  should  be  indeed  God's  scholars,  which  we  can  hardly  call  our- 
selves, as  long  as  we  make  these  self-willed  selections  of  what  we 
will  learn.  Thus  one,  who  looks  upon  the  Lord's  Supper  as  little 
more  than  a  commemorative  sign  of  an  absent  thing,  passes  lightly 
over  our  Saviour's  words,  "  This  is  My  Body."  A  former  period 
used  to  gloss  over  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  In  these 
days  we  seem  almost  to  have  lost  sight  of  the  truth,  that  we  shall  be 
judged  according  to  our  works.  Others  omit  passages  bearing  upon 
the  "godly  consideration  of  predestination,  and  our  election  in 
Christ,"  (Art.  xvii.);  others,  the  possibihty  of  our  falling  from  God, 
and  its  great  danger ;  and  so  again,  the  injunctions  as  to  unceasing 
prayer,  self-denial,  non-requital  of  injuries,  vain  ostentation,  or  the 
glorifying  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  are  dispensed  with  without  re- 
morse, and  read  with  what,  if  men  examined  it,  they  would  find  to 
be  the  very  spirit  of  unbelief. 


124 

ii.  2.  "  And  ye  have  an  anointing  from  the  Holy  One,  and  know  all  things. 
Ye,  then,  let  that  which  ye  heard  from  the  beginning  abide  in  you ;  for 
if  that  which  ye  heard  from  the  beginning  abide  in  you,  ye  also  shall  abide 
in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Father. — These  things  I  have  written  unto  you  con- 
cerning those  who  would  lead  you  astray.  And  ye,  the  anointing  which 
ye  received  from  Him,  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  have  no  need  that  any  should 
teach  you,  but  as  that  same  anointing  teacheih  you  concerning  all  things,  and 
is  true,  and  is  no  lie,  and  as  it  taught  you,  so  abide  in  Him."  (1  John  ii.  20 
—27.) 

This  mention  by  St.  John  of  the  "  anointing"  which  Christians 
had  received  from  Christ,  remarkably  connects  with  the  teaching  of 
St.  Paul  just  dwelt  upon  ;  and  the  argument  is  the  same.  In  each 
verse  St.  John  speaks  of  it  as  abiding  in  its  effects  ;  but  in  the  latter 
(ver.  27.)  as  having  been  received  of  Christ  at  some  former  time. 
Here  again,  then,  it  might  be  natural  to  infer  that  a  gift,  whose  ope- 
ration continued,  but  which  is  spoken  of  as  having  been  formerly 
received,  was  first  communicated  at  some  particular  time,  and  that 
having  been  received  from  Christ,  it  was  received  through  some  in- 
stitution of  Christ.  In  like  manner  also  the  very  term  "  anointing" 
would  lead  one  to  think  of  an  act  in  part  outward ;  and  since  it  was 
employed  under  the  Jewish  law  to  consecrate  things  or  persons  to 
the  service  of  God,  it  might  the  more  obviously  be  used  for  the  con- 
secration of  "  lay-priesthood,"*  as  Baptism  is  called  ;  and  that  the 
more,  since  our  Blessed  Saviour  was  actually  consecrated  and  anointed 
(comp.  Luke  iii.  21,  22  ;  iv.  1,  14,  16.)  by  the  descent  and  abiding 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  His  Baptism,  and  then  became  the  Christ ; 
since,  moreover,  the  same  "  sevenfold  gifts"  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  were  bestowed  upon  the  Christ  at  His  Baptism  (Is.  xi.  2  ;  Ixi. 
1.  Luke  iv.  18.)  are  here  spoken  of  by  St.  John,  as  having  been  in 
their  measure  imparted  to  Christians  ;  and  a  past  "  anointing"  (as  we 
saw  was  above)  is  by  St.  Paul  (2  Cor.  i.  21,  22,)  united  with  the 
past  "  sealing"  of  Baptism.  This  coincidence  of  expression  in  the 
two  Apostles  is  the  more  remarkable,  in  that  these  are  the  only  pla- 
ces in  which  they  speak  of  the  "  anointing"  of  Christians.  A  more 
close  examination  also  of  St.  John's  context  brings  his  words  very 
strikingly  in  connection  with  our  Saviour's  commission  to  His  disci- 
ples, "  to  baptize  all  nations  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,"  since  this  "  anointing"  imparled  saving  knowl- 
edge also,!  the  knowledge  of  the  "  truth"  as  opposed  to  Anlichris- 
tian  "  falsehood,"  (ver.  21.)  and  that  knowledge  the  confession  of  the 

*  Jerome  adv.  Lucif.  c.  2.  quoted  by  Bingham,  b.  xi.  c.  1. 
f  A  remarkable  comment  on  this  text,  "  as  that  anointing  teacheth  you,"  is 
furnished  by  the  words  used  in  anointing,  in  the  Coptic  liturgy,  "  We  anoint 
thee  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  One  God. 
We  anoint  thee  with  the  oil  of  instruction  in  the  one  holy  Catholic  and  Apos- 
tolic Church  of  God..    Amen."    Ass.  i.  148. 


125 

Fathef  and  the  Son  ;  "  Whoso  confesseth  the  Son  hath  the  Father 
also."  (ver.  23.)  'I'he  "  truth"  and  the  "  chrism,''^  or  "  anointing," 
whereby  they  knew  Jesus  to  be  the  "  Christ,''''  or  "anointed,"  are 
closely  blended  together,  and  are  spoken  of  as  almost  identical, 
"Let  that  which  ye  heard  from  the  beginning  abide  in  you,"  says 
St.  John,  for  so  "  shall  ye  abide  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Father ;"  and 
then  immediately,  "  and  ye,  the  Chrism  which  ye  received  of  Him, 
abideth  in  you,"  and  as  the  consequence  of  this,  "  ye  shall  abide  in 
Him — that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  may  not  be  ashamed  at  His 
coming."  So  then  by  the  "  abiding"  of  the  "  chrism,"  which  they 
had  formerly  "  received,"  there  abode  also  in  them  truth  which  they 
had  at  that  same  time  heard,  at  the  very  "  beginning,"  namely,  of  their 
Christian  life  ;  which  truth,  in  whomsoever  it  abode,  he  "  abode  in 
the  Father  and  the  Son,"  and  "  had  the  promise  which  He  promised, 
even  eternal  life."  The  words  could  hardly  be  more  plainly  shown 
to  belong  to  that  period,  when,  in  the  language  of  the  Fathers,  that 
good  deposit  was  confided  to  them,  thenceforth  the  partner  and  guide 
of  their  life,  and  their  companion  in  their  passage  out  of  it,  the  Con- 
fession of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  wherewith 
they  were  baptized,  and  brought  up  from  Baptism."* 

But  besides  this  internal  evidence  from  the  comparison  of  Scrip- 
ture itself,  we  have  the  authority  of  Christian  antiquity  to  guide  us  in 
interpreting  it,  in  the  very  use  of  the  name  "  the  anointing"  to  des- 
ignate Baptism  ;  and  the  early  and  general  use  of  Chrism  or  anoint- 
ing, as  a  holy  and  significant  act  thereat,  and  since  it  was  part  of 
Baptism,  a  Sacramental  act  also.t     And,  as  the  language  of  St.  John 

*  Greg.  Naz.     See  above,  p.  66,  67. 

f  See  Note  (G)  at  the  end.  The  close  connection  of  Confirmation  vpith  Bap- 
tism is  remarkably  attested  by  the  very  fact  of  the  extension  of  the  word  "  seal" 
to  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Confirmation.  For  it  is  unquestionable  that 
the  primary  use  of  the  word  "  seal,"  both  among  the  Fathers,  (see  above,  p. 
113-  and  Note  E.)  and  the  Liturgies,  (see  above,  p.  141,  sqq.)  relates  to  Bap- 
tism. In  the  Greek  Liturgies  also,  Confirmation  continues,  as  it  originally 
was,  embodied  in  the  Baptismal  service,  so  that  a  part  of  the  Baptismal  ser- 
vice is  sung  after  the  Confirmation  has  been  bestowed.  For  upon  the  thanks- 
giving for  Regeneration,  and  prayer  for  "  the  seal  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy,  and 
Almighty,  and  Adorable  Spirit,"  and  that  God  would  "  confirm  him  in  the  true 
faith,"  there  follows  the  marking  with  the  Cross  with  the  words,  "  The  seal  of 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Amen  ;"  and  then  follow  the  Baptismal  hymn,  "All 
ye,  who  have  been  baptized  into  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ,  Alleluia  ;"  and  the 
Baptismal  lesson,  (Rom.  vi.  3 — 11.)  and  another  from  St.  Matthew,  xxviii.  16 
— 20.  (Goar.  Eucholog.  p.  355,  6.  In  two  other  arrangements  of  this  office, 
this  "  sealing"  takes  place  during  the  Baptismal  hymn,  "  All  ye  who  have 
been,  &c."  and  there  follows  the  32d  Psalm,  "  Blessed  are  they  whose  iniqui- 
ties are  forgiven,"  which  was  by  the  Ancient  Church  universally  understood 
of  Baptism,  (ib.  358,  9-  and  362.)  as  also  in  a  third  in  which  the  "  seahng"  is 
performed  by  the  priest,  (p.  360.)  In  like  manner  in  a  Gallone  Sacramentary 
(Martene  de  Eccl.  Rit.  i.  1,  18.  ordo  6.)  that  of  Rheims,  (ib.  ord.  8.)  Chelle, 
(ord.  10.  p.  70.)  St.  Germain's  (ord.  11,)  Moisac,  (ord.  12,)  Jumiege,  (ord.13,) 


126 

and  St.  Paul  is  connected,  and  St.  Paul  himself  connects  the  "  anoint- 
ing" and  the  "  sealing"  in  Baptism,  so  does  Christian  Antiquity  (as 
was  shown)  continually  use  the  word  "  seal"  of  the  several  acts  of 
"  anointing,  which  took  place  during  that  Sacrament.  But  whether 
St.  John  (as  seems  to  me  most  probable  referred  to  a  specific  act  at 
Baptism,  or  to  Baptism  itself,  as  "making  us  kings  and  priests  to 
God,"  thus  far  makes  no  difference.  What  I  would  now  advert  to 
is  this,  that  Christian  Antiquity  interpreted  these  passages  of  Holy 
Baptism,  as  being  the  source  of  our  illumination,  as  of  our  sanctifi- 

the  Confirmation,  (administered  with  the  words,  "  the  mark  of  Christ  to  eter- 
nal hfe,")  is  inchaded  in  the  Baptismal  Office.     Jt  is  to  be  remarked,  that  these 
passages  (which  have  been  carefully  brought  together  in  a  valuable  series  of 
papers  in  the  Brit.  Mag.  vol.  xi.  p.  421,  543,  xii.  56,  663-)  are  altogether  dis- 
tinct from  those  in  which  the  name  "  seal"  is  applied  to  the  immediate  rite  of 
Baptism  ;  but  as  Baptism,  as  a  whole,  is  "  the  seal,"  so  actions  preparing  for 
it,  or  confirming  it,  are  included  under  it,  as  in  their  degree,  also  "  seals." — 
This  is  confirmed  by  those  fathers  who  speak  most  strongly  of  confii-mation, 
and  whom  Romanists  most  employ  in  proving  it  to  be  a  proper  Sacrament. 
For  when  St.  Cyprian  says,  that  imposition  of  hands  is  not  sufficient  for  those 
who  have  received  heretical  baptism,  but  that  they  "  will  then  only  be  fully 
sanctified,  and  be  the  sons  of  God,  if  they  be  born  of  each  sacrament,"  (Ep. 
72.  ad  Steph.)  it  is  plain  that  he  regards  Confirmation  as  a  part  of  Baptism, 
since  the  new  birth  is  the  gift  of  God  in  Baptism,  and  was  never  thought  to  be 
conferred  by  confirmation.  (The  same  language  is  used  by  Nemesianus,  Con- 
cil.  Carth.  ap.  Cyprian,  quoted  by  Bingham,  12.  1.  4.)     In  like  manner,  but 
yet  further,  Tertullian  de  Resurr.  Carnis,  c.  8,  separates  the  sealing  from  the 
anointing,  as  well  as  from  the  imposition  of  hands,  "  Caro  ungitur,  ut  anima 
consecretur  ;  caro  signatur,  ut  et  anima  muniatur  ;  caro  manus  impositione  ad- 
umbratur,  ut  et  anima  Spiritu  illuminetur  ;"  and  yet  no  one  would  argue  from 
this,  that  he  regarded  the  anointing,  the  marking  with  the  cross,  and  the  impo- 
sition of  hands,  as,  strictly  speaking,  three  different  sacraments,  though  they 
are  three  different  sacramental  rites.     So  that  whereas  Bellarmine  (de  Sacr. 
Confirm,  c.  6.)  argues  from  this  description  occurring  between  that  of  the  act 
of  Baptism  and  the  participation  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  that  Confirmation  is  a 
distinct  Sacrament,  equal  to  the  two  great  Sacraments,  it  would  better  prove 
five  distinct  Sacraments.     See  further,  Bingham,  1.  c.  where  he  shows  in  like 
way,  that  Optatus,  so  interpreted,  would  make  three  sacraments  of  Baptism, 
Unction,  and  imposition  of  hands,   and  Pacian,  of  Baptism,  Chrism,  and  the 
words  of  the  Priest.     Other  expressions,  whereby  Confirmation  is  most  fre- 
quently entitled,  as  "  the  complement  of  Baptism,"  imply  the  same,  since  no 
one  would  call  a  distinct  Sacrament  the  complement,  filling  up,  perfecting,  of 
that  of  which  it  is  not  a  part.     No  one  ever,  for  instance,  called  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist so.   The  above  view  is,  I  see,  stated  in  so  many  words  by  Haimo,  (ap. 
Bingham,  1.  c.)  "  The  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  given  in  Baptism  by  the  im- 
position of  the  Bishop's  hands."     It  is  plain  also  that  those  passages  of  the 
fathers,  which  speak  of  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  as  belonging  peculiarly  to  Con- 
firmation, are  to  be  understood  (as  indeed  their  words  convey)  of  an  especial 
strengthening  and  confirming  grace,  (which  our  Church  holds)  not  as  though 
Baptism  conferred  simply  remission  of  sins,  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  were 
altogetlier  reserved  for   confirmation  ;  both  because  they  hold   Baptism  to 
be  "  the  birth  of  water  and  the   Spirit,"  and   themselves  repeatedly    affirm 
the  Spirit  to  be  given  in  Baptism.     See  above,  p.  22,  30,34,  &c.  and  (on  the 
passages  of  St  Cyprian)  Bp.  Bethell  on  Bapt.  Regen.  c.  6.  p.  85,  note  ed.  2. 


127 

cation  ;  while  moderns  find,  under  the  term  "  anointing,"  the  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  or  grace,  or  wisdom,  or  the  Blessed  Spirit  Himself, 
as  anointing  Christians  either  immediately,  or  mediately  through  the 
ministry  of  the  word, — any  thing  in  short  rather  than  the  institution 
of  our  Blessed  Saviour.  And  I  would  wish  persons  to  consider 
whether  this  do  not  imply  a  changed  feeling,  a  less  vivid  recognition 
of  the  value  of  the  "  means  of  grace,"  and  an  independence  of  ordi- 
nances which  is  less  humble  than  the  frame  of  mind  of  the  early 
Christians. 

ii.  3.  It  was  remarked  on  the  above  passages,  wherein  mention  is 
made  of  our  "sealing"  and  "anointing,"  that  they  are  spoken  of  as 
having  taken  place  at  a  definite  past  time.     This  would  obviously  be 
the  mode  of  speaking  of  privileges  or  gifts  solemnly  bestowed  at  one 
period  of  the  Christian  life,  however  their  effects  may  and  ought  sub- 
sequently to  endure.     Birth  is  one  gift,  though  it  would  not  profit  us 
to  have  been  born,  unless  the  being,  thus  bestowed,  were  afterwards 
upheld  by  His  Fatherly  care  ;  there  is  but  one  commencement  of 
life,  although  that  life  must  afterwards  be  matured,  sustained,  guard- 
ed, strengthened  ;  one  engrafting  of  the  weak  and  sickly  scion  into 
the  health-giving  stock,  although  it  must  ever  after  "  abide  in  the 
vine,"  if  it  is  to  "  bear  fruit,"  and  not  "  be  cast  forth  as  a  branch  and 
withered  ;"  one  adoption  into  the  family,  though  it  be  by  His  mercy 
that  any  is  enabled  to  walk  worthy  of  that  adoption,  and  is  retained 
in  it ;  one  fountain  of  life,  though,  unless  it  flow  on,  our  life  will  be 
dried  up  ;  one  rising  of  the  sun,  although  His  rays  must  continually 
lighten  our  path,  else  should  we  walk  on  in  darkness.  And  so,  while 
we  bear  in  mind  the  continued  gifts  of  His  goodness,  in  the  life 
which  He  upholds  ;  the  fatness  of  the  olive-tree,  which  He  imparts ; 
the  membership  of  the  family,  which  He  continues  ;  the  stream,  or 
the  light,  which  He  pours  within  us  ;  still  there  is   eminently  one 
date,  from  which  all  these  present  blessings  are  derived,  differing 
from  them  in  so  far  as  it  is  one,  the  sun-rising,  the  engrafting,  the 
adoption,  the  birth  ;  one  act,  transitory  as  an  act,  athough  abiding 
in  its  effects.     Now  this  is  precisely  the  mode  of  speaking  which 
Scripture  uses  in  making  mention  of  our  Christian  privileges.    When 
it  speaks  to  individuals,  it  uniformly  refers  them  back  to  that  act, 
from  which  their  present  privileges  were  derived  ;  it  speaks  of  the 
gifts,  as  having  been  conferred  in  the  past,  though  they  are  continued 
on  to  the  present  to  such  as  have  not  forfeited  them.     But  this  is 
not  the  way  in  which  the  school  of  Calvin,  having  unlearned  the  val- 
ue of  the  Sacraments,  would  speak.     To  them,  Justification  must  of 
necessity  be  simply  present ;  it  cannot  have  any  date,  except  in  the 
opinion  of  such  as  hold  that  every  real  Christian  must  be  able  to  as- 
sign the  precise  moment  of  his  conversion  ;  and  these  are  now  com- 
paratively few.     For  since  they  reject  justification  through  the  Sa- 
crament of  Baptism,  and  hold  it  to  be  simply  the  result  of  the  act  of 


128 

faith  apprehending  Christ,  laying  hold  of  His  merits,  and  applying 
them  to  Itself,  this  justification  must  necessarily  consist  in  a  number 
of  repeated  acts,  each  separately  wrought  in  the  soul  by  the  agency 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  none  differing  in  kind  from  another,  so  that 
the  one  should  be  the  cause,  the  rest  the  result.  Justification  then 
must  be  to  them  continually  and  simply  present  ;  not  as  the  result 
of  any  thing  past,*  but  as  consequent  upon  their  present  act  of  casting 
themselves  on  the  Redeemers  merits  ;  they  have  been,  they  trust, 
and  are,  justified  ;  but  their  present  justification  is  the  result,  they 
think,  simply  of  their  present  faith  ;  and  so  at  each  former  time  their 
then  act  of  reliance  on  His  merits  M^as  the  means  of  their  justi- 
fication, it  was  then  to  them  the  present  source  of  justification ; 
and,  in  like  manner,  in  such  as  persevere,  to  the  end.  These  would 
take  up  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  as  they  stand  in  our  English  Bibles, 
and  would  be  interpreted  according  to  our  present  idiom, t  "  There- 
fore being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God ;"  '*  much 
more  then,  being  now  justified  by  His  blood  ;"  "  but  ye  are  wash- 
ed, but  ye  are  sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified  in  the  Name  of  the 
TiOrd  Jesus  ;"  as  exactly  expressing  their  meaning.  It  is  then  very 
remarkable,  in  contrast  with  these  views,  that  Holy  Scripture  never 
speaks  of  justification  with  regard  to  individuals,  simply  as  present ; 

*  This  is  the  more  remarlcably  illustrated  in  a  recent  A'ery  popular  work  of  a 
Dissenting  missionary,  in  that  the  writer,  when  called  upon  to  minister,  in  a 
case  of  extreme  distress,  seems  to  have  had  no  notion  that  Baptism  made 
any  difference  at  all  in  a  person's  state.  A  mother  sent  to  him  in  great  agony 
on  her  death-bed,  on  account  of  the  infanticides  of  which  she  had  been  guilty, 
when  a  heathen.  "  I  began  to  reason  with  her,  and  urged  the  consideration, 
that  she  had  done  this  when  a  heathen,  and  '  during  the  times  of  ignorance, 
which  God  winked  at ;'  but  this  afforded  her  no  consolation.  I  then  directed 
her  to  the  '  faithful  saying,  which  is  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Je- 
sus came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners.'  This  imparted  a  little  comfort ;  and 
after  visiting  her  frequently,  and  directing  her  thoughts  to  that  Blood,  which 
cleansei/t  from  all  sin,  I  succeeded,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  in  tranquillizing 
her  troubled  spirit ;  and  she  died  about  eight  days  after  my  first  interview, 
animated  with  the  hope,  that  'her  sins,  though  many,  would  all  be  forgiven 
her.'  And  what  but  the  gospel  could  have  brought  such  consolation'?" — 
Williams's  S.  Sea  Islands,  p.  480, 1.  Consolation  is  not  the  main  object  of  the 
Gospel,  yet  the  Gospel  would  have  brought  much  more  consolation,  had  this 
teacher  known  it  all,  and  could  have  told  her  of  the  "  one  Baptism  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins,"  that  "she  had  been  washed,  had  been  cleansed;"  and  so  could 
he  have  declared  authoritatively,  without  altering  our  Lord's  own  words, 
"Thy  sins  are  forgiven." 

t  The  words,  "  being  justified,"  meant  according  to  the  translators,  "  being 
in  a  justified  state,"  just  as  in  the  Collect  for  Christmas  Day,  they  translated 
"  renati,"  "  being  regenerate,"  meaning  "  being  persons  regenerated  or  re- 
born," which  is  equivalent  to  "having  been  regenerate-"  The  controversy 
some  years  back,  which  would  interpret  this  as  a  prayer  for  regeneration,  is  a 
curious  illustration  of  the  effect  of  modern  notions  in  altering  the  meaning  of 
ancient  language. 


139 

it  never  says  strictly,  '*  ye  being  justified,"  but  uniformly  "  ye  hav- 
ing been  justified,"  and  so  refers  to  a  past  act,  whereby  they  were 
justified  once  for  all,  or  placed  *'  in  a  state  of  salvation"  or  justifica- 
tion, wherein  they  were  to  abide  or  to  be  kept.  And  this  usage  is 
the  more  remarkable  in  that  the  other  form  ''  being  justified"  is  used 
as  often  as  Scripture  would  speak  of  God's  method  of  grace  in  the 
abstract,  without  reference  to  individuals.  Thus  St.  Paul  to  the  Ro- 
mans, "  Therefore  having  been  justified  {iiKaioyQtvTa)  by  faith,  we 
have  i^xoh'^")  peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by 
whom  also  we  have  received  {i<'x'"^ai'ci')  access  into  this  grace,  and  re- 
joice (.Kavx'^fcda)  [yi  hopc,  &c,"  So  again,  (ver.  9.)  "  Much  more  then 
having  now  been  justified  (^S'xatuidivTes")  by  His  Blood,  we  shall  be 
saved.'  "  If  being  enemies  we  were  reconciled  {"arnWdYriiicv)  much 
more  having  been  reconciled*  (faraXXaytvrej)  shall  we  be  saved."  (ver. 
10.)  "  By  whom  we  have  ?iow  received  (£Ad/?j//ei')  the  atonement." 
(ver.  11.)  Bat  as  soon  as  St.  Paul  has  to  declare  this  as  a  general 
statement  of  God's  dealings  with  regard  to  His  whole  purpose  of 
mercy,  and  without  respect  to  individuals,  the  present  is  used. 
Thus  in  ver.  17.  "  they  which  receive  {^^ajidavovrcs'^  tbe  abundance  of 
grace — shall  reign  in  life."  "It  is  God  which  justifietK^  (Jncaiwi';) 
**  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  being  justified 
(SiKaioijitvoi,'^  &c.  And  so  in  like  manner  to  the  Galatians,  "  a  man  is 
not  justified  (<5"catoCra<)  by  the  works  of  the  law  ;"  (ii.  16.)  "  the 
Scripture  foreseeing  that  God  justifie^^  (Ji/coior )  the  heathen  through 
faith  ;"  (iii.  8.)  "  that  no  man  is  justified  ('5"f<MoS'-a')  by  the  law  ;"  (iii. 
11.)  but  when  he  speaks  of  individuals,  he  again  uses  the  past, 
"  Sucht  were  some  of  you ;  but  ye  were  washed  {aKcXoiaaa&c,^  but  ye 
were  sanctified  (^yacfli",)  but  ye  were  justified  (j^'fiiweurt,)  ^  the 
Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  in  the  Spirit  of  our  God  ;"  "He  sav- 
ed (£<7t<'<r«>')  us  by  the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost — that  having  been  justified  (<5<'(aiwe£Vr«)  by  His  grace,  we 
may  become  heirs."  (Tit.  iii,  5 — 7.)  And  so  both  St.  James  and 
St.  Paul,  speaking  of  the  specific  act  of  faith  involving  obedience, 
whereby  Abraham  was  justified,  say,  the  one,  "  if  Abraham  were 
justified;''''  the  other  ^^loas  not  Abraham  our  Yd^ihev  justified?  (both 
i6tKaii:>dn)  5  but  the  general  proposition  which  each  derives  from  this 
example,  they  express  in  the  present ;  (iv.  5.)  St.  Paul,  "  to  him 
that  worketh  not,  but  believeth  {T^ordovTi^  on  Him  that  justifieth  (''"^a'- 
ovira)  the  ungodly ;"  St.  James,  "  Ye  see,  then,  how  that  by  works 
a  man  is  justified  (<5<taioCra<,)  and  not  by  faith  only."  And  so  it  is  uni- 
versally true,  that  there  is  no  one  place  in  Holy  Scripture,  in  which 
individuals  are  spoken  of  otherwise  than  as  having  been  justified, 
while  the  use  of  the  other  form,  whenever  individuals  are  not  spoken 

*  E.  V.  "  being  justified"  (throughout,)  "  have  access,"  "  being  reconciled." 
t  1  Cor.  vi.  11.  *^  are  washed;  are  sanctified — are  justified.  — E.  V. 
VOL,  II 5 


) 


130 

of,  shows  the  more  that  there  was  some  reason  for  relinquishmg  that 
form,  and  adopting  this,  so  soon  as  they  are.  And  this  is,  that  the 
justiticalion  of  individuals  is  not  simply  the  result  of  their  present 
belief,  (in  which  case  it  would  be  most  natural  as  moderns  do,  but 
as  Holy  Scripture  never  does,  to  speak  of  it  in  the  present,)  but  was 
conferred  upon  them  through  the  "  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of 
sins  ;"  which  being  a  past  act,  so  must  the  justification  thereby  con- 
ferred  be  spoken  of,  as  having  taken  place  in  past  time. 

And  this  characteristic  mode  of  speaking  is  not  confined  to  the 
word  "justified"  only;  it  runs  through  the  whole  Apostolic  Epis- 
tles, as  being  written  to  baptized  persons  ;  so  that,  while  the  fruits 
of  the  gifts  of  Baptism,  as  victory  over  the  world,  being  temples  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  are  spoken  of  as  present,  ("yea  in  all  these  things 
we  are  more  than  conquerors,"  vvcpviKUfau,  Rom.  viii.  37.,  "  ye  are  (''"■0 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost :"  1  Cor.  iii.  16.)  the  gift  is  uniformly 
spoken  of  as  past.  More  than  this,  the  gift  is  spoken  of  as  having  been 
conferred  once  for  all,  (it  is  expressed  by  a  tense  which  denotes 
what  has  been  done  once  for  all,)  and  just  as  our  Saviour's  Death  is 
spoken  of  as  having  taken  place  once  for  all,  although  the  fruits  of 
that  precious  death  continue,  and  shall  continue  for  ever  ;  so  also  its 
atoning,  justifying,  sanctifying  influences  are  spoken  of  as  having 
been  imparted  to  us  through  Baptism,  which  took  place  once  for 
all ;  though  to  the  faithful  they  be  afterwards  continued,  and  enlarged 
in  them.  Thus,  in  addition  to  the  passages  already  adduced  out  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  St.  Paul  says,  "we  died*  with  Christ," 
(in  Baptism,  to  which  the  context  refers;)  "but  having  been  wade 
free  from  sin  {i'^tvBcpoiOivTei)  ye  were  made  servants  {iiovXwQnrt)  xo  right- 
eousness."t  The  act  whereby  they  were  made  free,  is  as  much 
past  as  their  former  slavery.  "  Thanks  be  to  God  that  ye  were 
C?")  the  servants  of  sin,  but  ye  obeyed  {i^riKovaaTc)  that  form  of  doc- 
trine into  which  ye  were  delivered,"  or  cast,  as  in  a  mould  i^apMenTc.) 
"  Ye  were  slaves  to  sin,"  "  were  free  from  righteousness  ;"  but  now 
having  been  made  free  from  sin,  and  having  been  made  servants 
{tKivQcpt^QivTEi,  iov\<jiQivTti)  to  God,  yc  havc,"  &c.  (^V"-)  "  So  then,  my 
brethren,  ye  also  loere  deadened^  ieOavardenre)  to  the  law  through  the 
body  of  Christ."  "  But  now,  having  died  (dToOdvovra)^  vve  were  made 
free  {.xarnpyfiOni'i^i')  from  the  law."  And  so  after  describing  in  the 
seventh  chapter  the  slavery  of  the  unregenerate,  St.  Paul  proceeds 
in  the  eighth  to  speak  of  the  freedom  which,  by  a  past  act,  had  been 

*  dTrcBavojicv.     Rom.  vi.  8.     E.  V.  "  be  dead." 

f  Rom.  vi.  18,  22.  "  being mdide  free,  he  became."  E.V.  ver.  18,  "and  be- 
come." ver.  22,  "  have  obeyed."  ver.  17. 

t  Rom.  vii.  4,  6.  "  are  become  dead,"  "  that  being  dead,"  "  are  delivered." 

§  Griesbach's  and  Scholz's  reading.  The  other  reading,  dKoQavovroi,  is,  as 
to  the  argument,  the  same. 


1^' 

given  him,  "  The  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  freed  me"*  (^>^«0£><j'^«  ;)  and 
this  is  spoken  of  just  as  much  as  past,  as  the  Atonement  of  which  it 
was  the  application  ;  "  for  what  the  law  could  not  do, — God  having 
sent  (T£>'/'aO  His  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin, 
condemned  (-""■£>"£)  sin  in  the  flesh  ;"  while  the  fruits  of  both  are 
spoken  of  in  the  present,  "  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might 
be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  (^tp'TuroCan.)  not  after  the  flesh,"  Again, 
"  ye  received  not  (iXn/Jt")  the  spirit  of  bondage, — but  ye  received\ 
(iXaffcre)  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry  {"p^o^icv)  Abba,  Father." 
"  We  ourselves,  having  (£%'»'"?)  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  groan 
within  ourselves  ; — for  in  hope  wereX  we  saved"  (tawdniicv. )  Again, 
as  to  the  failure  of  Israel  to  attain  justification,  "the  Gentiles  a^^aiw- 
ed  ("artXaPe)  rightcousness  ;  but  Israel  attained  (^(pda^c)  not  to  the  law 
of  righteousness  ;  for  they  stumbled  {-^pootKoxpav)  at  that  stone  ;" — they 
submitted  themselves  {y^^raXnaw)  not  to  the  righteousness  of  God." 
And  in  the  same  way  is  their  faith  spoken  of  as  one  past  act.  "  Now 
is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  believed"^  {iTTt(TT€v<Ta^cv ;)  i,  e.  not 
simply  as  moderns  paraphrase  it,  "  when  we  Jirst  believed,"  but 
that  first  and  single  act,  which  made  us  faithful  and  believers,  our 
Baptism. 

To  examine  the  next  Epistle. — In  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, St.  Paul,  at  the  very  outset,  gives  thanks  that  "  ye  tvere\\  made 
rich  ( i-TXovriaOrjTt)  in  Christ,  even  as  the  testimony  of  Christ  was  con- 
firmed (£/?£^aiw0»))  in  you ;  so  that  ye  come  behind  {-v^Ttpuaeai)  in  no 
gift ;"  their  present  fulness  of  gifts  was  the  result  of  that  past  en- 
riching, which  was  the  earnest  also  of  the  future — "  waiting  (d'T^v^f- 
xoiiivovi)  the  revelation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  also  ivill  con- 
firm you  i^cPaiuxrei)  {q  tho  end  unblameable  in  the  day  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Faithful  is  God,  by  whom  ye  were  called  (wX/j9»;r£)  to 
the  communion  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  In  like  man- 
ner, of  their  justification,  "  Of  Him  are  ye  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  be- 
came to  us  i^Y^vfidt))  wisdom  from  God,  and  righteousness,  and  sancti- 
fication,  and  redemption."  Again,  as  before  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  *'  We  received  {iXaHo^ev)  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the 
Spirit  which  is  of  God,  that  we  may  know  the  things  which  were 
freely  given  (x<^pt<rOcvTa)  us  of  God."1[  And  "  ministers,  through 
whom  ye  believed''''**  (£Ti<rr£war£;)and  this  act  is  spoken  of  as  being  as 
much  past  as  the  sacrifice  of  Christ — "  Christ,  our  Passover,  was 
sacrificedtt  C^"'*'")  for  us  ;"  "  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  tem- 

*  Ver.  3.  "  hath  made  me  free."  E.  V.     f  Ver.  15.  "  have  received."  E.  V. 

I  Ver.  24.  "We  are  saved  by  hope."  E.  V.  ^  Chap.  xiii.  11. 

II  1  Cor.  i-  5.  "are  enriched."  E.  V. 

■|[  1  Cor.  ii,  12.  "  have  received — art  given."  E.  V. 

**  iii.  5. 

ft  V.  7.  "  is  sacrificed."  E.  Y.  Such  a  case  as  this  show^s  the  meaning  of 
the  E.  V.  and  that  "  is  sacrificed,"  is,  in  its  language,  equivalent  to  "has  been 
sacrificed,"  being,  perhaps,  a  Latinism  from  "  sacrificatus  est-^'' 


133 

pie  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God,  and 
ye  are  not  your  own,  for  ye  were  bought  inyopdiretiTc)  with  a  price."* 
"  Wert  thou  called  as  a  servant— ^he  that  ivas  called  (fAueaj)  as  a  ser- 
vant, is  the  Lord's  freeman  ;  likewise  also  he  that  was  called  as  a 
freeman,  is  the  servant  of  Christ ;  ye  ivere  bought  with  a  price,  be- 
come not  servants  of  men.  Let  each  wherein  he  was  called,  bre- 
thren, therein  abide  with  God."t  And  in  the  same  way  exactly  is 
the  act  of  Baptism  itself  spoken  of ;  "for  in  One  Spirit  were  we  all 
baptized  {tPaTTTiaenixsp)  into  one  Body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whe- 
ther bond  or  free  ;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  (tToi-iVen/i")  into  One 
Spirit.":}:  Lastly,^  "  I  declare  unto  you  the  Gospel,  which  I 
preached  unto  you,  which  also  ye  received  (^aptXiffcTt,)  and  wherein 
ye  stand,  by  which  also  ye  are  saved,  [or  are  in  a  state  of  salva- 
tion,] if  ye  holdfast  the  word  I  preached  unto  you,  unless  ye  believ- 
ed (i-^'i^rcioaTe)  in  Vaiu." 

It  would  be  a  dry  way  of  handling  Holy  Scripture,  to  pursue  this 
examination  through  every  Epistle  ;  and  the  object  is  attained  when 
this  peculiarity  of  Scripture  language  has  once  been  set  before  our 
eyes  :  any  one  can,  with  the  original  text,  observe  it  for  himself 
throughout.  Yet  may  it  be  worth  while  to  present  the  results  as  to 
those  two  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  which  first  gave  occasion  to  these 
remarks,  in  that  they  speak  of  the  past  "  sealing"  of  Christians  :  the 
2d  to  the  Corinthians,  and  that  to  the  Ephesians.  The  instances  in 
that  to  the  Corinthians  are  also  comparatively  few,  in  that  that  Epis- 
tle is  more  occupied  with  subjects  relating  to  the  subsequent  beha- 
viour and  relations  of  his  converts  ;  in  that  to  the  Ephesians,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  are  extremely  condensed,  on  account  of  the  fulness 
wherewith  St.  Paul  sets  forth  to  this  spiritual  Church  the  mysteries 
of  the  Gospel. 

The  earliest  instance  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  has  already 
been  dwelt  upon  at  large  ;1!  and  the  Apostle  uses  the  same  language, 
in  part,  in  another  place,  where  in  the  midst  of  speaking,  in  present 
time,  of  his  then  condition,  "  we  who  are  in  this  tabernacle  groan, 
being  burthened,  {Papoijuvot,,)  not  that  we  wish  (fi'^o/^t*')  to  be  unclothed," 
&c.,  he  inserts  the  mention  of  that  act  of  God,  whereby  he  was 
qualified  thus  to  "  long  to  be  clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be 
swallowed  up  of  life  ;"  and  in  so  doing  he  immediately  reverts  to 
the  past,  as  speaking  of  a  past  act ;  "  but  He  that  wrought  us% 
{xaTtpyacanevoi,  mouldcd  US,)  for  this  samc  thing  is  God,  who  also  gave 

*  vi.  20.  "  are  bought."  E.  V. 

t  vii.  17 — 24,  "  hath  distributed — hath  called  ;"  E.  V.  and  then  "  is  any  call- 
ed— art  thou  called — he  that  is  called — are  bought — is  called." 
1  xii.  13.  "  are  baptized  ;"  E.V.  "  but  have  been  all  made." 
\  XV.  1.  2. 
I  See  p.  Ill,  sqq. 
•|12  Cor.  v.  3 — 8.  "hath  wrought  us— hath  given  us."  E.  V. 


133 

us  (^  »<»'  ^»*0  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit."  This  having  been  done,  the 
Apostle  reverts  to  the  account  of  his  present  state  ;  "  we  then,  being 
confident  (Oappowrss.)  and  knowing  that,  being  present  in  the  body,  we 
are  absent  [are  in  a  state  of  absence]  from  the  Lord,  for  we  walk 
[are  walking]  by  faith,  not  by  sight,  we  are  confident,  {dappaviiev)  I  say, 
and  choose  rather  {^vioKSfiev,)"*  &c. 

The  second  passage  in  the  Epistlef  furnishes  an  instance  of  that 
accuracy  of  language,  which  our  modern  languages  cannot  fully  pre- 
serve, in  distinguishing  between  an  act  which  has  taken  place  once 
for  all,  and  one  which  continues,  not  in  its  effect  only,  but  in  itself, 
up  to  the  present  time  ;  "  Ye  are  our  Epistle,  known  and  read"  [in 
present  time]  "  of  all  men,  being  made  manifest  that  ye  are  the  Epis- 
tle of  Christ,  which  was  ministered  (StaKovnOcTaa)  by  us,  having  been 
written  {tyyeypannivn)  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  Living 
God."  Here  the  transient  act  of  the  Apostle,  in  bringing  them  to 
Christ,  and  writing  His  letter,  as  His  servant  and  scribe  as  it  were, 
within  them,  is  distinguished  from  the  abiding  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  continued  to  engrave  in  their  hearts  His  holy  teaching, 
now  as  heretofore.  At  the  end  of  the  same  chapter,  a  course  of 
action  continually  in  progress,  (as  this  also  was,)  but  in  that  case 
spoken  of  without  reference  to  any  earlier  special  date  in  the  Chris- 
tion  Hfe,  is  expressed  in  a  different  way,  in  present  time  ;  "  but  we 
all,  with  unveiled  face,  contemplating,  as  in  a  glass,  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  being  tr  ansformed  (pcTaitopcpoipsda)  from  glory  to  glory,  as  by 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord;"  i.  e.  while  the  Jews  having  the  veil  upon  their 
hearts,  could  not  see  through  the  shadows  of  the  Mosaic  law,  or 
"to  the  end  of  that  dispensation  which  had  an  end,"  Christians,  gaz- 
ing, with  unveiled  face,  as  in  a  mirror,  on  His  glory,  caught  on  their 
own  countenances  the  reflection  of  that  glory,  and  ever,  as  they  gazed 
more  intently  upon  Him,  "  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  their  faith," 
that  they  might  receive  His  impress  upon  themselves,  they  "  receiv- 
ino"  grace  for  grace,"  were  daily  in  the  course  of  being  transformed 
from  one  degree  of  inward  glory  to  another,  or  became  daily  more 
partakers  of  His  glory. 

In  the  next  verse,|  the  Apostle  speaking  of  himself,  opposes,  in 
like  manner,  as  cause  and  effect,  God's  fi7'st  act  of  mercy  towards 
him,  and  his  own  first  renunciation  of  what  was  contrary  to  His  will, 
to  his  subsequent  conduct :  he  says  not  simply,  "  as  we  have  ob- 
tained mercy,"  but  "  as  we  obtained  mercy,"  iji>^ti}dnpi:v,  gg  -we  were 
compassionated,  once  for  all,)  "  we  faint  not,  but  we  renounced 
{diTUJTipeda,  bade  farewell  to)  the  hidden  things  of  shame,  not  tvalking" 
(jtpiTrarovi^Tei,)  &c. ;  and  of  Christians  generally,  "  for  God  who  bade 
{dnw)  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  is  He  who  shone  ii>^(ippcy)  in  our 

*  See  p.  111.  sqq. 

t  C.  iii.  2,  3. 

X  2  Cor.  iv.  1.  *'  have  received  mercy— have  renounced."  E.  V. 


134 

hearts  ;"*  where  God's  first  pouring  of  hght  into  the  Christian's  soul 
is  compared  to  that  transient  Creative  act,  whereby  He  said,  "  Let 
there  be  Hght,  and  there  was  hght."  Of  the  same  kind,  lastly,  as 
that  passage  in  which  St.  Paul  spoke  of  himself  as  the  scribe  of 
Christ,  is  that  wherein  he  speaks  of  his  present  jealousy  over  the 
conduct  of  the  Corinthian  Church,  as  the  result  of  his  having  had  the 
ministry  of  betrothing  that  Church  to  Him.  "  /  am  jealous]  i^n^^) 
over  with  you  with  a  godly  jealousy ;  for  I  espoused  (hpfoaifin^)  you  to 
One  Husband — but  /  fear  lest  as  the  serpent  deceived  (^n^^maev) 
Eve, — For  if  he  who  cometh  preach  another  Gospel  which  we 
preached  {iKipi^afcv)  not,  or  ye  receive  (^"^/'""'^'■O  another  Spirit,  which 
ye  received  not  (£Xa/?£r£,)  or  another  Gospel,  which  ye  obtained  not 
(miacOeV^ — where  the  first  preaching  of  St.  Paul,  and  their  first  receiv- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  are  spoken  of  acts  which  equally  took  place  once 
for  all ;  as  afterwards  he  says,  "  being  crafty,  I  caughtX  you  Ct^a/^oi/) 
with  guile." 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  instances  of  this  mode  of 
speaking  lie  very  close  together  :  to  mention  them  is  almost  to  tran- 
scribe the  beginning  of  the  Epistle  :  "  Blessed^  be  God,  who  blessed 
us  U<'^oyit<,ai)  -with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  Christ,"  [i.  e.  who  by  en- 
grafting us  in  Christ,  blessed  us  with  all  blessing,]  "  as  He  chose 
us  out  m^y<^k'^ro)  in  Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  having 
predestinated  us  (fpoop.vas)  to  the  adoption  of  sons,  through  Jesus 
Christ  unto  Himself,  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace,  where- 
by He  made  us  acceptable  (.ixH'^ri^atv)  u^io  Himself  in  the  Beloved, 
in  whom  we  have'^  [as  a  present  possession,]  "  redemption  through 
His  Blood,  according  to  the  riches  of  His  grace,  wherewith  he 
abounded  {.ivcpwaevctv)  unto  us,  having  made  knoiun  (yviopiirai)  to  us 
the  mystery  of  His  will,  according  to  His  own  good  pleasure,  which 
He  purposed  {^poiQero)  in  Himself,  for  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness 
of  times,  to  gather  together  all  things  in  Christ,  in  whom  we  also 
were  chosen  to  an  inheritance,  having  been  predestinated  (tKUp<idiine)> 
jrpoofiia9£Vr«)  accordiug  to  His  purpose,  who  tvorketh  (^^''epyovi'TOi'^  all 
things  after  the  counsel  of  His  will ;"  whereupon  follows  the 
passage  already  dwelt  upon.||  And  yet  in  all  this  exalted  descrip- 
tion of  our  Christian  privileges,  wherein  he  carries  us  into  the  inner 
shrine  of  God's  purposes  of  mercy,  and  of  our  election  and  predes- 
tination in  Him,  all  is  spoken  of  as  past,  except  the  treasure  which 
we  have  of  being  redeemed,  and  His  might  working  and  completing 
all  things ;   He  did  "  bless,"  "  made   us  acceptable,"  "  abounded 

*  Ver.  6.  "  hath  shined."  E.  V. 

t  2  Cor.  xi.  2—4.  t  ^ii-  16. 

^  Eph.  i.  3 — 11.  "  Hath  blessed — hath  chosen — hath  made  us  accepted — 
hath  abounded — hath  purposed— have  obtained  an  inheritance,  JeiTijg' predesti- 
nated." E.  V. 

I  See  p.  HI.  sqq. 


135 

toward  us,"  "  made  known  to  us  the  mystery  of  His  will,"  "  chose 
us  to  an  inheritance,"  "  sealed  us"  in  time  past ;  just  as,  before  time 
was.  He  "predestinated,"  "  chose  us  out  to  be  adopted  as  sons," 
"  purposed  His  good  pleasure  towards  us  in  Christ,"  or  as,  in  time 
past,  they  thus  spoken  of  had  "  heard  {'^'^oiuavrci)  the  word  of  truth,  the 
good  tidings  of  salvation  ;  had  believed  in  Christ,"  <,^i<^rti<!avTei.) 

In  this  place  St.  Paul  speaks  chiefly  of  God's  eternal  purpose  of 
mercy,  and  sets  forth,  as  an  effect  of  this,  the  past  realizing  of  that 
mercy  to  them  by  that  act,  whereby  they  "  were  sealed  ;"  in  the 
next  chapter  he  contrasts  that  same  completed  act  of  mercy  with 
their  past  disobedience,  and  with  the  past  meritorious  act  of  His 
saving  Cross,  and  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension,  whereof  he 
maketh  His  Church,  as  His  Body,  to  partake.  "  And  you,  being 
{Svrai)  dead  in  tresspass  and  sins,  in  which  ye  formerly  walked  ('r£p'«'f«- 
Tfiaart,)  accordiug  to  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  who 
now  worketh  (t'-tpyCiroO  in  the  children  of  disobedience,  among  whom 
we  all  also  had  our  conversation  (<i''«<f'-pd<^n/is^)  in  the  lusts  of  our  flesh, 
and  were  (^f «")  by  nature  children  of  wrath,  even  as  the  rest,  but  God 
being  rich  in  mercy,  through  His  great  love,  wherewith  He  loved  us 
(nydTTnaev)^  quickened  together  with  Christ  {'rvci^^onoint'c)  us,  even  when 
dead  in  trespasses  (by  grace  have  ye  been  and  are  ye  saved,  f""« 
(re<T(j<rnivot)  and  raised  us  together,  and  placed  us  together  with  Him  in 
heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (i,  e.  made  us  partakers  of  His 
Life,  His  Resurrection,  His  Ascension  into  Heaven,  in  that  he  made 
us  members  of  Him,  who  is  the  Life,  and  as  having  life,  rose  again, 
and  ascended  into  Heaven,  and  we  were  made  "  in  Him.^''  The  very 
language  (besides  the  immediate  connection  of  this  passage)  carries 
us  back  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  wherein  we 
are  declared  to  be  made  by  Baptism  partakers  of  His  Resurrection. 
St.  Paul  proceeds,  "  For  by  grace  are  ye,  and  were  ye  saved  through 
Faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  not  of  works, 
lest  any  should  boast,  for  we  are  His  workmanship,  having  been 
created  {KTiaQivTa)  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works,  which  God  before 
prepared  (.nponToiiia(Tev,)  that  we  should  walk  in  them  ;"  i.  e.  God  first 
re-created  us  in  Christ  (the  very  words  in  Christ  lead  us  to  Baptism, 
whereby  we  were  made  members  of  Him)  not  for  any  works  of  our 
own,  but  of  his  own  free-grace,  that  having  been  so  re-created,  we 
might  walk  in  those  works,  which  He  had  prepared  for  us  to  walk 
in.  "  Wherefore,  remember,"  he  proceeds,  "  that  ye  formerly, 
Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  were  ("J")  at  that  time  without  Christ ;  but  now 
in  Christ  Jesus,  ye  once  being  afar  off,  have  been  made  near''''  (}ytvn- 
Onrc.)  And  then  having  spoken  of  the  past  acts  of  our  redemption, 
that  He  had  broken  down  the  wall  of  partition,  had  destroyed  the 
law  of  commandments  in  ordinances,  had  slain  the  enmity  in  His 
Cross,  had  by-ought  the  good  tidings  of  peace  (^'5<raf,  xarapyfiaas,  avoKTHvas^ 
tinyyeXiaaro,)  he  says,  "  Yc  then  are  now — fellow-citizens  of  the  saints, 


136 

and  of  the  household  of  God,  having  been  built  (<5Touo5o^»,9£m{)  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself 
being  the  chief  corner-stone,  in  Whom  the  whole  building  being Jitly 
framed  together,  groweth  (^<^v''apfio>.oyevfiivn  aii^ci)  into  a  holy  temple,  in 
the  Lord,  in  Whom  ye  are  being  built  up  together  ((^"voi/to^o/iticrtfe)  for 
an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit ;  where  there  is  the  same 
blending,  and  yet  distinction  between  the  former  acts  of  our  Lord  for 
us,  either  in  his  own  Person,  or  in  us,  and  His  continued  operation 
in  us,  as  having  thus  been  made  in  Him  through  the  Spirit  for  the 
fuller  indwelling  of  the  Spirit. 

It  may  be  useful  to  point  out  briefly,  in  conclusion,  that  the  same 
is  the  case  with  regard  to  some  texts,  which  are  often  alleged  in  a 
popular  way  :  thus  St.  Paul  says,  "  I  through  the  law"  [not  "  am 
dead,"  but]  "  died"  [diriOavo,''^  to  the  law,  that  I  might  live  to  God.  I 
have  been  and  am  crucified  with  Christ  [(rvvtaraipoyjiat,^  yet  I  live  (f^;) 
yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  {^'i)  in  me  ;  and  what  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave 
himself  {ayairrjaavTOi  Ku.mapaidvTOi'^  for  mc."  Thc  passago  remarkably  and 
accurately  expresses  i\\epast  act  of  Christ's  love,  in  giving  Himself 
for  him,  and  St.  Paul's  past  act  of  dying  to  the  law,  when  he  was 
made  partaker  of  the  Death  of  Christ,  and  "  was  buried  with  Him 
by  Baptism  into  death,"  (Rom.  vi.  3.)  and,  again,  a  past  act  when  he 
was  "  made  fpartaker  of  His  Cross,"  (as  St.  Chrysostom  says^  "  by 
Baptism,")  but  this  last  still  continued  on,  inasmuch  as  he  not  only 
professed  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross,  but  bore  his  Saviour's  Cross 
after  Him,  and  so  the  old  man,  having  been  crucified  with  Him,  re- 
mained crucified  ;  and  lastly,  there  is  the  new  and^esenHife,  which 
is  the  result  of  that  death  in  Baptism  :  and  so  he  says,  strictly  and 
carefully,  "  I  died"  "  I  have  been  crucified,"  yet  "  I  live"  or  rather 
"  Christ  liveth  in  me."  And  so,  at  the  close  of  the  Epistle,*  he  dis- 
tinguishes these  two  last,  '^  God  forbid  that  I  should  glory  save  in 
the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whereby  the  world  has  been 
crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world,"  (not  assuredly  by  the  mere 
preaching  of  the  Cross,  as  if,  at  the  hearing  of  the  preaching  of  the 
Cross,  he  had  been  persuaded  to  "  crucify  himself ;"  St.  Paul  says 
rather,  "  he  had  beeii  crucified,"  not  by  his  own  power  or  strength, 
but  in  Baptism  he  had  been  crucified  with  his  Lord,  and  so  had,  by 
the  power  given  him,  remained,)  "  for  in  Christ  Jesus  neither  is  cir- 
cumcision any  thing,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  the  new  creation  ;"  i.  e. 
it  matters  not,  as  he  elsewhere  says,t  whether  any  one  were  called, 
being  circumcised  or  un circumcised  ("for  circumcision  is  nothing, 
and  uncircumcision  is  nothing,  but  the  keeping  the  commandments 
of  God,")  these  were  but  outward  distinctions,  now  abohshed;  and 
though  his  own  circumcision  had  been  a  privilege,  it  was  so  no  longer ; 

•  Gal.  vi.  14,  15.  f  1  Cor.  vii.  18,  19. 


137 

God  forbid  that  he  should  glory  in  it,  now  that  the  shadows  have  been 
done  away  by  the  reahty ;  no  !  his  boast  was  now  his  new  creation 
in  Christ,  wherel)y  the  world  had  been  crucified  to  him,  and  he  to 
the  world.  The  world  was  around  him,  in  his  sight,  but  he  had  no 
hands  to  grasp  it,  nor  feet  to  follow  after  it ;  his  hands  and  feet  were 
nailed  to  his  Saviour's  Cross  ;  and  himself  new  created  and  removed 
into  a  new  creation,  looked  on  it,  as  we  on  the  toys  of  our  childhood: 
it  belonged  to  a  state  of  things,  from  which  he  had  passed  away. 
But  here  again  we  have  the  same  two  points  marked  ;  past,  though 
enduring,  crucifixion,  and  present  life,  in  a  new  state  of  being. 

To  sum  up,  then,  we  have  here  a  remarkable  peculiarity,  apparent 
throughout  the  Divine  language,  in  all  the  Epistles  to  which  men 
appeal  as  setting  forth  f^eiV  notions  of  "justification,"  and  "faith;" 
uniform  in  its  principles,  and  precise  and  definite  in  its  application. 
Whenever  the  justification  of  individuals  is  spoken  of,  it  is  expressed 
that  that  justification  was  bestowed  upon  them  in  time  past,  by  one 
act,  once  for  all ;  it  is  spoken  of  as  passive  on  their  part,  and  as  com- 
plete ;  "  they  were  justified;"  and  so  in  like  way  it  is  not  said,  "  we 
are  freed  from  sin  ;"  but,  "  Christ /reec/  us,"*  "freed  me,"t  "  having 
been  made  free  ;"|  as,  before  it  came  to  pass.  He  said,  "  the  Truth 
shall  make  you  free,"§  or  as  it  remains  that  "  the  creature"  be  "  freed 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption,"!  at  the  end  of  all  things.  In  like  way 
Christians  are  never  said  to  "  be  called,"  to  "  receive  a  call,"  as  is 
common  in  certain  modern  language,  but  it  is  said  "God  caWed  us,"ir 
or  hath  "called  us,"**  "thou,  he,  ye,  were  called ;"tt  so  much  so, 
that  in  four  places  only  is  the  present  time  used  of  the  "  calling"  of 
Christians  ;  and  in  these  four  it  is  a  title  of  God,  "  He  who  calleth;"J| 
just  as  in  the  former  instance,  "  He  who  justifieth."  So  also  Chris- 
tians are  entitled  "  the  called,"  i.  e.  from  the  very  force  of  the 
word,  "  those  who  have  been  called,"^^  or  "  the  chosen,"||||  i.  e.  "  who 
have  been  chosen,"  as  Scripture  says,  again,  "  God  chose  us,"1[T[  just 
as  it  says  that  "  He  chose  the  fathers,"***  or  the  Apostles  as  the  wit- 

*Gal.  V.  1.         t^om.  viii.  2.         |  lb.  vi.  18,  22.         §  John  viii.  32,  36. 

II  Horn,  viii-  21.     These  are  all  the  cases  in  which  e\evetf)6iA  occurs. 

i[  iKa\t(Tev.  Rom.  viii.  30 ;  ix.  24;  1  Thess.  iv.  7.  2  Thess.  ii.  14.  KoKiaai 
Gal.  i.  6.  15,  2  Tim.  i.  9,  1  Pet.  i.  15  ;  ii.  9  ;  v.  10,  2  Pet.  i.  3. 

**  <fE/fXi)K£i/,  1  Cor.  vii.  15,  17.  ol  kckXtjiicvoi  Heb.  ix.  15,  Rev.  xix.  9. 

tt  «X.-,9^,  iAndvrc,  1  Cor.  i.  9  ;  vii.  18,  20.  21,  22,  24.  Gal.  v.  13.  Eph.  iv. 
1,  4.  Col.  iii.  15.  1  Tim.  vi.  12.     1  Pet.  ii.  21,  iii.  9.  KUdd;,   1  Cor.  vii.  22. 

Xt  '•»''  xa\ovvTOf,  Rom.  ix.  12.  Gal.  v.  8.  1  Thess.  ii.  12.  (where  a  good  many 
important  authorities  read  KaXiaavros,  which,  though  a  gloss,  shows  how  xaXoiiroj 
was  understood.  See  Griesbach.  5,  24.  In  1  Thess.  ii.  12.  the  E.  V.  gives 
the  sense,  remarkably  enough,  "  Who  hath  called  you." 

^^  vXr/roi  Rom.  i.  6,  7;  viii.  28.  1  Cor.  i.  2,  24.  Jude  1.  Rev.  xvii.  14. 

III!  £a«rof,  tKXtKToi,  Rom.  viii.  33;  xvi.  13.  Col.  iii.  12.  2  Tim.  ii.  10.  Tit. 
i.  1.     1  Pet.  i.  1 ;  ii.  9.  2  John  i.  13.  Rev.  xvii.  14.     (tbw-cXwt^,  i  Pet.  v.  13. 

'1F1  d'^^i"^":  1  Cor.  i.  27,  bis  28.     Eph.  i.  4.     James  ii.  5. 

***  Acts  xiii.  17. 


138 

nesses  of  the  Resurrection,*  or  St.  Peter  as  the  first  preacher  of  the 
Gentiles,!  or  Matthias^  to  succeed  to  the  place  of  the  traitor  Judas. 
In  like  way,  with  regard  to  our  sanctification,  the  common  title  of 
Christians,  (as  often  remarked,)  is  "saints,"  or  "holy;"  and  since 
this  is  an  abiding  quality,  it  is  the  more  remarkable  that  Scripture 
never  says,  "  ye  are  sanctified,"  as  of  something  simply  present,  but 
"ye  were  sanctified  ;"||  and  they  are  called  strictly,  "  those  who  have 
been  sanctified  ;"^  and  this  is,  again,  the  more  remarkable,  in  that, 
so  soon  as  sanctification  is  spoken  of  as  a  quality  in  itself,  without 
reference  to  definite  individuals  who  are  sanctified,  the  present  is 
used,  as  "  The  Sanctifier  and  the  sanctifiedl  are  all  of  one."  "  By 
one  offering  hath  He  perfectly  expiated  for  ever  the  sanctified,"** 
i.  e.  those  whom  He  sanctifies,  in  the  abstract.  This  same  distinc- 
tion occurred  before,  as  to  our  justification.  So,  further,  and  as  con- 
nected with  this,  the  "  receiving  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Which  sanctifieth 
us;  it  also  is  spoken  of  as  past. ft  Now  the  modern  school  have 
seen  the  inadequateness  of  that  cold  exposition,  which  explained  this 
by  reference  to  the  miraculous  gifts  which  often  accompanied  the 
laying  on  of  hands,  but  they  have  failed  to  see,  that  they  have  them- 
selves left  unexplained  the  propriety  of  language,  of  which  this  was 
meant  as  an  explanation  ;  and  so,  when  they  paraphrase  it  in  the  pre- 
sent,!]:  they,  as  well  as  the  others,  lose  one  part  of  the  meaning  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  present  is  used  by  St.  Paul  only  of  another  spirit, 
which  was  to  come  from  another  Gospel,  and  another  Saviour  ;  "For 
if  he  who  cometh  preacheth  another  Gospel,  which  we  preached  not, 
or  ye  receive  {>^anPdveTi)  another  Gospel,  which  ye  received  (eXa/?£«;  not;" 
— so  connecting  the  more  closely  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  with  the  first 
admission  into  the  Gospel,  in  that  he  unites  the  reception  of  this 
other  spirit  with  the  preaching  of  another  Jesus.  In  like  way,  with 
regard  to  salvation  ;  in  one  way  it  is  spoken  of  as  &i]\[ future,  in  that 

*  lb.  i.  2.  t  XV.  7.  X  i.  24. 

II  1  Cor.  vi.  11.  Heb.  x.  29.  hyiaa)iivoi  loniv.  Heb.  x.  10. 
^  fiyiaajtivoi,  Acts  XX.  32  ;  xxvi.  18 ;   1  Cor.  i.  2  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  21 ;  Jude  1. 
•|[  0  ayia^oiv  itaX  o'l  ayiai,6ficvoi  (in  Correspondence  with  each  Other.)  Heb.  ii.  11. 
**  Heb.  X.  14,  where  there  just  precedes,  verse  10,  hyiaafiivoi  taiiiv,  "  we  have 
been  sanctified,"  and  there  follows,  verse  29.  "  whereby  he  was  sanctified." 

ijYiaadri. 

ft  Rom.  viii.  15.  "ye  receive^il  the  Spirit  of  adoption,"  1  Cor.  ii.  12.  (so  iv. 
7.  what  hast  thou  which  thonreceiwedst  nof?  cXa/Seg.)  Gal.  iii.2  ;  1  John  ii.  27. 

XX  So  e.  g-  Vorstius  on  1  Cor.  ii.  12.  "  The  Spirit  the  faithful  only  receive, 
i.  e.  those  who  have,  by  the  grace  of  God,  already,  in  some  degree,  devoted 
themselves  to  Christ,  and  received  His  Gospel  (see  John  xiv.  15—26)  Where- 
fore, we  must  pray  God,  that  He  would  cleanse  our  hearts  by  faith,  and  so 
infuse  into  them  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  by  Him  we  may  be  led  into  all  truth." 
So  on  Rom.  viii.  15.  The  error  in  this,  and  the  like  passages,  is  briefly,  that 
which  runs  through  the  whole  system,  that,  neglecting  Baptism,  he  regards 
Christians  as  heathen,  and  that  as  to  take  place  for  the  first  time,  which,  St. 
Paul  says,  has  taken  place. 


139 

not  all  who  have  been  saved  once,  shall  be  saved  finally,  but  they 
only  "  who  endure  to  the  end,  the  same  shall  be  saved  ;"*  but  in  the 
present,  Holy  Scripture  speaks  of  it  only  as  to  the  act  of  Baptism  ; 
"  Baptism  saves  us,"t  and  of  Christians  as  "  the  saved,"!  (or  in  a 
state  of  salvation,)  or  of  the  continuance  of  our  salvation,  "  whereby 
also  ye  are  [yet]  sacved,^  if  ye  hold  fast ;"  or  in  the  abstract,  "  if  the 
righteous  scarcely  be  saved  ;"||  but  of  the  act  of  God  it  says,  "  Who 
savec^lF  us,"  "  we  loere  saved,"**  "  have  been  saved."tt  Lastly,  all 
the  words  which  express  most  closely  our  union  with  our  Lord,  and 
all  which  He  has  wrought  out  for  us,  His  Cross,  His  Death,  His 
Burial,  His  Resurrection,  His  Life,  His  Ascension,  His  sitting  at 
God's  right  hand,  are  expressed  in  this  same  way,  as  having  taken 
place  in  past  time,  (and,  as  before  said,  the  language  conveying  a 
closeness  of  union,  which  our  language  can  hardly  come  up  to,)  "  we 
co-died,"  "  were  co-crucified,"  "  were  co-interred,"  "  were  co-im- 
planted  in  His  Death,"  "  God  co-raised  us  with  Christ."  "  He  co- 
vivified  us,"  "  He  co-seated  us  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus."j::j: 
No  words  occur  expressive  of  our  present  union  with  our  Lord,  ex- 
cept as  derived  from  these  past  actions,  save  those  which  speak  of 
participation  of  His  sufferings  :  there  is  thus  expressed  only  past 
union  with  Christ,  wrought  (as  the  language  shews)  for  us,  and  con- 
tinued on  in  the  participation  of  present  sufferings,  and  to  be  crowned 
by  the  participation  of  His  future  glory.  "  The  world  remains  co- 
crucified  with  Him  to  me,  and  I  unto  the  world  ;"  "  if  we  co-suffer 
that  we  may  be  glorified. "^^  "  And  that  I  may  be  found  in  Him,  that 
I  may  know  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  Resurrection,  and  the  fellow- 
ship of  his  sufferings,  being  conformed  to  His  Death, "Hi  whereon 
follows,1[1[  "  Who  shall  transform  our  vile  body,  con-formqd  to  His 
glorious  body."  "Since  we  died  with  Christ,  we  believe  that  we 
shall  also  co-live  with  Him."***  "It  is  a  faithful  saying,  for  if  we 
co-died,  we  shall  also  co-live;  if  we  endure,  we  shall  also  co-reign ."ttt 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  13.  '        1 1  Pet.  iii.  21.  cdi^a. 

J  01  aoi^dfievoi,  Acts  ii.  27  ;  1  Cor.  i.  18  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  15 ;  Rev.  xxi.  24. 

^  (Twt^e(Tde,  1  Cor.  XV.  2. 

II  1  Pet.  iv.  13,  and  Heb.  vii.  25.  "  Wherefore  He  is  able  to  save,"  od^tiv. 
^  idbioiv,  Tit.  iii.  5.     ailxravToi,  2  Tim.  i.  9. 
**  £<rw9r(f<£i/,  Rom.  viii.  24. 

•|"j'  £0T«  atauxT^iivoi,  Eph.  ii.  5.    8. 

tt  avvairtQavoiiev,  2  Tim.  ii.  11.  crvve(TTavp(idri,  Rom.  vi.  6.  avve<TTavpo)iia,  Gal.  11. 
20.  o-vi/£Tdi/'»;/ifi',  Rom.  vi.  4.  <TVVTa(ptvTts,  Col.  ii.  12.  tnjt^vToi  ycyivajicv,  Rom.  vi.  5. 
awy/jytips,  Eph.  ii.  6.  ovvnyipQiTc,  Col.  ii.  12 ;  iii.  1.  awe^uonotnae,  Eph.  ii.  6.  Col.  ii,  13. 
avveKadiacv,  Eph.  ii.  6. 

§§  <TvyK\ripov6iioi—e^Trep  <jVfn!a<3')(opLtv,   Iva  Koi  oi)vSo^aa6CJi>ev,   Rom.  Till.  17. 

mi  Phil.  iii.  10.  ivufiopipovficvos. 

^"H  lb.  iv.  21.  avimop^ov. 
***  Rom.  vi.  8.    cvl,fiaojiev. 

ttt  2  Tim.  11.  comp.  Rom.  vi  8.    The  first  words  are  nearly  the  same.— 


140 

This  same  principle,  which  has  now  been  shown  to  apply 
to  the  several  words  which  express  our  Christian  privileges, 
was  above  shown  to  run  through  whole  Epistles,  and  long 
passages  in  the  Epistles  :  and  all  who  take  on  ihem  to  explain 
Holy  Scripture  are  bound  to  give  some  account  of  it,  and  if 
they  depart  from  it  in  their  own  practice,  to  examine  the  ground 
of  that  departure.  A  peculiarity  so  uniform,  so  extensive,  is  obvi- 
ously not  to  be  glossed  over,  but  should  be  very  earnestly  weighed 
by  any  who  would  reverence  Holy  Scripture,  and  not  have  its  mean- 
ing closed  to  him.  To  the  ancient  Church,  and  those  who  have 
followed  her  teaching,  it  is  exactly  what  was  to  have  been  expected ; 
for  since  Baptism  is  the  instrument  whereby  God  communicated  to 
us  the  remission  of  sins,  justification,  holiness,  life,  communion  with 
the  Son  and  with  the  Father  through  the  Spirit,  the  earnest  of  the 
Spirit,  adoption  of  sons,  inheritance  of  heaven,  all  which  our  Lord 
obtained  for  us  through  His  Incarnation  and  precious  Blood-shed- 
ding, it  is  obvious  that  all  these  gifts,  and  whatever  else  is  included 
in  the  gift  of  being  made  a  "  member  of  Christ,"  must  be  spoken  of 
as  having  been  bestowed  upon  Christians,  once  for  all,  in  past  time 
at  their  Baptism.  It  remains  for  those  who  have  ceased  to  regard 
Baptism  as  the  instrument  of  conferring  these  blessings,  to  account 
for  the  Apostle's  language  upon  their  views. 

Instances  have  been  above  given,  which  show  what  reality  this 
faithful  adherence  to  Scripture  gave  to  the  teaching  of  the  Ancient 
Church  ;  two  more  may  be  added,  not  selected  with  care,  but  such 
as  occur  :  "  If  we  unhesitatingly  believe  in  our  heart,"  says  S.  Leo,* 
"  what  we  profess  with  our  mouth,  we  were  crucified  in  Christ,  we 
died,  we  were  buried,  we  also  ivere  raised  again  on  that  very  third 
day.  Whence  the  Apostle  saith,  '  If  ye  rose  again  with  Christ, 
seek,'  &c,"  And  St.  Ambrose,!  on  St.  Paul's  words,  already 
dwell  upon,  "  The  Apostle  crieth  aloud,  as  ye  have  heard  in  the  pre- 
sent lesson,  '  For  whosoever  is  baptized,  is  baptized  in  the  death  of 
Christ.'  What  meaneth,  '  in  the  death  ?'  That  as  Christ  died,  so 
thou  also  tastedst  death  ;  as  Christ  died  to  sin,  and  liveth  to  God, 
so  thou  also  diedst  by  Baptism  to  the  former  enticements  of  sins, 
and  didst  rise  by  the  grace  of  Christ.  For  the  death  i«,  not  in  the 
truth  of  a  bodily  death,  but  in  the  likeness  ;  for  when  thou  art  im- 
mersed, thou  receivest  the  likeness  of  death  and  burial ;  thou  re- 
ceivest  the  mysterious  efficacy  [sacramentum]  of  His  Cross,  that 
Christ  hung  on  the  Cross,  and  His  Body  was  fastened  through  with 
nails.     Thou,  then,  xohen  thou   art  crucified,  cleavest  to    Christ; 

The  latter  passage  bears  a  strong  likelihood  of  having  been  a  received  saying, 
and  a  sort  of  primitive  hymn,  as  is  suggested  by  Mr.  Keble,  Primitive  Tradi- 
tion recognized  in  Holy  Scripture.,  p.  15. 

*  Serm.  II.  de  Res.  Dom.  i.  c.  3.  This  vivid  sense  of  the  community  of 
Christians  with  their  Lord  characterizes  his  writings. 

t  De  Sacram.  1.  2. }  23. 


141 

thou  cleavest  to  the  nails  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  devil 
may  not  be  able  to  take  thee  away.  Let  the  nail  of  Christ  hold 
thee,  whom  the  iveakness  of  human  nature  calls  back  againJ" 

Such  was  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  Church  ;  so  did  every  thing 
bind  them  on  to  their  JiOrd  ;  the  hours  of  their  daily  solemn  wor- 
ship spoke  to  them,  and  filled  them  with  thoughts  of  His  being  con- 
tented to  receive  the  bitter  sentence  of  death  for  them  ;  of  His  being 
nailed  to  the  Cross,  of  His  naihng  our  sins  with  His  own  Body 
there  ;  of  His  tasting  death  for  our  sins  and  commending  His  Bless- 
ed Spirit  into  the  hands  of  His  heavenly  Father  ;*  their  going  to 
rest,  of  His  being  laid  in  the  grave  for  them  ;  their  awakening,  of 
His  Resurrection ;  and  so  each  weekly  fast  bound  them  more  close- 
ly to  their  Saviour's  Cross,  that  they  should  not  start  from  it ;  each 
Lord's  Day  they  rose  with  Him  ;  and  thus  "  day  unto  day  uttered 
speech,  and  night  unto  night  showed  knowledge  ;"  and  as  the  year 
flowed  on,  the  Festivals  of  our  Lord  did  not  simply  commemorate 
(in  modern  phrase)  "  events  which  took  place  1800  years  ago,"  but 
showed  Him  to  their  purified  hearts,  as  even  then  coming  into  the 
world,  born,  suffering,   dying,  rising,  ascending  :t  they  longed  for 

*  The  third,  sixth,  ninth  hours  of  prayer. 

t "  The  King,  the  Lord,  Who  is  about  to  come,  Come  let  us  worship."  In- 
vitat.  first  Lord's  day  in  Advent.  R.  "  We  are  looking  for  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Who  shall  re-form  our  vile  body,  con-formed  to  His  glorious  body. 
V.  Let  us  live  soberly,  and  righteously,  and  holily,  in  this  world,  looking  for  the 
blessed  hope  and  Coming  of  the  glory  of  the  great  God."  lb.  R.  "  Christ,  Son 
of  the  Living  God,  have  mercy  upon  us."  V.  Thou  who  art  about  to  come  into 
the  world,  have  luercy  upon  us."  lb.  "  Now  is  the  Lord  near;  come  let  us 
worship."  Invit.  from  third  Lord's  day  to  Advent  Eve.  "  His  time  is  near  to 
come,  and  His  days  shall  not  be  prolonged.  The  Lord  will  have  mercy  upon 
Jacob,  and  Israel  shall  be  saved."  Resp.  ib.  "  Behold  the  Lord  shall  come^ 
the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  ;  Blessed  are  they,  who  are  prepared,  to 
meet  Him."  Ant.  "  When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come,  shall  he  find  faith  on 
the  earth  1"  "  Behold  the  fulness  of  time  is  come,  in  which  God  sent  His  Son 
into  the  world."  "  Ye  shall  draw  waters  with  joy  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation." 
"The  Lord  shall  come  forth  out  of  His  place  ;  He  shall  come  to  save  His  peo- 
ple." Antiphone,  second  day  in  third  week.  "  The  Lord  Almighty  shall  come 
from  Zion  to  save  His  people."  "  Turn,  O  Lord,  at  the  last,  and  delay  not  to 
come  to  Thy  servants."  "  The  Lord  who  shall  reign  shall  come  from  Sion; 
Enunanuel  is  His  great  Name."  "Behold  my  God,  and  1  will  honor  Him; 
my  Father's  God,  and  I  will  exalt  Him."  "The  Lord  is  our  Lawgiver;  the 
Lord  is  our  King;  He  will  come  and  save  us."  Fifth  day,  R.  "  He  Who  is 
coming  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  fear  in  our 
borders;  for  He  is  our  Saviour.  V.  He  shall  subdue  all  our  iniquities,  and 
cast  our  sins  into  the  depth  of  the  sea;  for  He  is,"  &c.  Ib.  second  day.  R. 
"Come  to  save  us,  Lord  God  of  Hosts  ;  V.  Show  Thy  countenance,  and  we  shall 
be  saved."  lb.  "  Watch  ye  in  mind,  for  the  Lord  our  God  is  at  hand."  Antiph. 
fifth  day.  "  The  Lord  is  nigh,  come  let  us  worship."  Antiph.  fourth  Lord's  day. 
V.  "  My  salvation  is  near  at  hand,  and  my  righteousness  to  be  revealed."  Ib, 
"  Blow  ye  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand  ;  He  will  come 
to  save  us.  Allel.  Allel,"    "  Behold  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come,  and 


142 

His  coming,  they  suffered  in  His  Passion;  they  rose  with  Him  from 
the  tomb  ;  they  followed  His  ascension  ;  they  awaited  His  return  to 
judge  the  quick  and  dead,  and  to  receive  them  to  His  kingdom. 
And  so  in  His  Sacraments  also,  He  was  with  them  ;  He  fed  them 
in  the  Eucharist;  He  washed  away  their  sins  in  Baptism:  and 
Baptism  v/as  to  them  Salvation,  and  the  Cross,  and  the  Resurrection, 
because  He  opened  their  eyes  to  see  not  only  the  visible  minister, 
but  Himself  working  invisibly  ;  not  only  the  water,  but  the  Blood  ; 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  witness,  applying  the  Blood,  through 
the  water,  to  the  cleansing  of  the  soul. 

ii.  4.  "  If  then  ye  were  raised  together  with  Christ,  seek  the  things  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  Set  you  affections  on  the  things 
above,  not  on  the  things  on  the  earth.  For  ye  died,  and  your  life  hath  been 
hid  with  Christ  in  God."— Col.  iii.  1. 

The  comparison  of  other  Scripture,  as  well  as  the  propriety  of 
speech  just  explained,  leave  no  question  that  St.  Paul  here  refers  to 
Baptism.     For  already  in  this  Epistle  he  had  used  the  very  word, 

the  house  of  the  Lord  shall  be  filled  with  glory.  Alleluia."  "  The  crooked 
shall  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain  ;  come,  0  Lord,  and  linger 
not.  Alleluia."  "  The  Lord  shall  come  ;  meet  Him,  saying, '  Mighty  rule,  and 
of  His  kingdom  shall  be  no  end ;  God,  mighty  Lord,  Prince  of  peace,  Alleluia, 
Alleluia."  "Thy  Almighty  Word,  O  Lord,  shall  come  forth  from  the  royal  seats, 
AUeluia."  Antiphones,  ib.  R.  "  Sanctify  yourselves  to-day,  and  be  ye  ready,  be- 
cause on  the  morrow  ye  shall  see  the  Majesty  of  God  among  you.  V.  To-day 
ye  shall  know,  that  the  Lord  shall  come,  and  to-morrow  ye  shall  see  the  Majes- 
ty, &c."  Christmas  Eve.  R.  "  Be  still,  ye  shall  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord 
upon  you  ;  Judea  and  Jerusalem,  fear  not,  to-morrow  ye  shall  go  forth,  and  the 
Lord  shall  be  with  you^  R.  "  Sanctify  yourselves,  sons  of  Israel,  saith  the 
Lord  ;  for  to-morrow  the  Lord  shall  come  down,  and  take  away  all  diseases 
from  you."  V.  "  To-morrow  shall  the  iniquity  of  the  earth  be  done  away, 
and  the  Saviour  of  the  world  shall  reign  over  us."  "  To-morrow  shall  there 
be  salvation  to  you,  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts."  Ant.  ib.  "  Christ  is  bom 
to  us  to-day  ;  come  let  us  worship."  Ant.  Christmas  day.  R.  "  To-day  the 
King  of  heaven  deigned  to  be  born  of  a  Virgin,  that  He  might  restore  lost  man 
to  the  heavenly  kingdoms  ;  the  host  of  Angels  rejoices,  because  eternal  salva- 
tion has  appeared  to  the  human  race."  The  above  is  a  selection  only  for  a 
single  season.  Of  the  same  kind  are  the  longer  Antiphones  of  the  same  sea- 
son, recognized  in  our  Calendar,  beginning,  "O  Sapientia."  So  also  at  other 
seasons.  "  In  peace  I  would  lay  me  down  and  rest  in  Him."  Antiphone  in 
Easter  eve.  "  Alleluia,  the  stone  is  rolled  away  from  the  door  of  the  tomb,  al- 
leluia, alleluia."  V.  "  The  Lord  is  risen  from  the  tomb,  alleluia."  R.  "  AVho 
for  us  hung  upon  the  tree,  alleluia."  Antiph.  Vers.  Resp.  on  Easter  day.  V. 
"  The  Lord  has  risen  indeed,  alleluia."  R.  "  And  has  appeared  unto  Simon." 
(Ib.  and  as  a  salutation  in  Greek  Church.)  "  Alleluia,  Christ  our  Lord,  ascend- 
ing into  heaven,  come  let  us  worship."  Invitatory,  Ascension  Day.  V.  "  God 
is  gone  up  with  a  shout,  alleluia.  R.  And  the  Lord  with  the  sound  of  the 
trump."  Vers,  and  Resp.  ib.  "  Christ,  Son  of  the  Living  God,  have  mercy 
upon  us,  alleluia,  alleluia.  Christ,  Son  of  God,  who  ascendest  above  the  stars, 
alleluia,  alleluia."  Ascension  day. 


143 

that  they  "were  raised  together  with  Christ  in  Baptism."  And 
here  (as  is  so  frequent  in  his  Epistles)  he  is  beginning  to  urge  upon 
them  a  series  of  Christian  duties,  entailed  upon  them  by  their  Chris- 
tian privileges,  v/hich  he  had  set  forth  to  them.  These  then  he  be- 
gins by  an  appeal  to  his  past  doctrine,  "  ye  were  raised  together  with 
Christ ;"  "  if  then,"  or  (as  the  word  means  in  this  context,)  "  since 
then  ye  were  raised  together  with  Christ,"  live  where  Christ  is,  in 
heaven.  The  words  then  are  the  direct  application  of  the  former. 
St.  Paul  had  also  taught  the  same  to  the  Romans  ;*  nor  does  the 
Scripture  know  of  any  other  way  whereby  we  first  became  partakers 
of  His  Death  than  by  His  Baptism.  It  is  then  the  more  remarkable 
that  interpreters  should  be  found,  nay,  that  the  common  habit  of  mind 
of  this  day  should  be  able  to  see  here,  a  mere  moral  exhortation  to 
conformity  to  Christ,  without  a  suspicion  of  any  allusion  to  the  hid- 
den spring  of  such  action,  our  union  with  Him,  and  the  power  of 
His  Resurrection,  derived  into  us  from  Him,  through  the  fount  of 
Baptism.  Remarkable  is  the  contrast  of  the  glowing  appeal  of  the 
ancient  Church  : — "  Strange  !t  whither  hath  he  uplifted  our  mind  T 
how  hath  he  filled  them  with  mighty  thoughts  !  It  sufficed  not  to 
say  '  the  things  above,'  nor  '  where  Christ  is,'  but  he  adds,  '  sitting 
at  ihe  right  hand  of  God.'  And  from  thence  he  prepares  them  not 
even  to  see  the  world — This,  he  says,  is  not  your  life  ;  your  life  is  of 
another  sort ;  he  strains  already  to  lift  them  up  thither,  and  is  ur- 
gent in  showing  that  they  are  seated  above,  and  are  dead,  preparing 
through  both  to  teach  them  not  to  seek  the  things  here  :  for  whether 
ye  are  dead,  ye  ought  not  to  seek  :  or  whether  ye  are  above,  ye 
ought  not  to  seek.  Doth  Christ  not  appear  ?  then  neither  doth  your 
life  ;  it  is  above  in  God.  What  then  ?  when  shall  we  live  ?  When 
Christ,  your  life,  is  manifested,  then  seek  for  glory,  then  for  life,  then 
for  enjoyment. — *  Then  shall  ye  also  be  manifested,'  so  then  now  ye 
appear  not.  Behold,  how  he  hath  lifted  them  up  to  the  very  heaven. 
For,  as  I  said,  he  continually  strives,  throughout  all  his  Epistles,  to 
show  that  they  have  the  same  which  Christ  hath,  and  share  with 
Him  in  all  things, — If  this  life  then  is  not  life,  but  it  is  hid,  we  ought 
to  live  this  life,  as  being  dead. — Whether  then  we  be  reviled,  or 
whatever  we  suffer,  let  us  not  be  grieved.  For  this  life  is  not  our 
life  ;  for  we  are  strangers  and  sojourners ;  *  for  ye  died,'  he  says. 

*  See  above,  p.  78.  sqq. 

t  Chrys.  ad.  loc.  Horn,  vii,  1.  2.  3.  Theodoret  thus  paraphrases,  "  Yepar- 
took  with  Christ  of  the  Resurrection,  But  He  is  far  above  all  things,  seated 
in  the  Heavenly  places  with  the  Father  ;  imitate  then  life  above.  Ye  became 
dead  to  the  present  life  ;  for  ye  were  co-interred  in  Baptism  with  Christ  and 
received  the  hope  of  the  Resurrection.  For  this  is  the  meaning  of '  Your  life 
hath  been  hid  with  Christ  in  God.'  For  when  He  rose,  we  were  all  raised; 
but  as  yet  we  see  not  the  result ;  for  the  mystery  of  our  Resurrection  hath 
been  hidden  in  Him." 


144 

Who  so  senseless  as  to  buy  servants,  or  costly  apparel  for  a  corpse  ? 
No  one  !  so  then  neither  let  us. — Our  first  man  was  buried,  buried 
not  in  earth  but  in  water ;  dissolved  not  by  death,  but  by  Him  Who 
dissolved  death,  and  buried  him  not  by  the  law  of  nature,  but  by  the 
command  of  Authority  mightier  than  nature.  For  what  hath  been 
wrought  by  nature  may  be  undone  ;  what  by  His  command,  not. 
Nothing  is  more  blessed  than  this  burial,  whereat  all  rejoice,  both 
angels  and  men,  and  the  Lord  of  the  angels.  For  this  burial  there 
needeth  not  garments,  or  coffin,  or  the  like.  Would  you  see  a  sign 
thereof !  I  will  show  you  a  pool,  wherein  one  was  buried,  another 
rose.  The  Egyptians  were  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Israel- 
ites arose  out  of  it.  And  the  same  thing  buries  the  one,  produceth 
the  other.  Marvel  not  that  there  is  both  birth  and  destruction  in 
Baptism.  Fire  melts  and  destroys  wax,  smelts  the  ore  and  makes  it 
gold ;  so  here  also  the  power  of  fire  having  destroyed  the  figure  of 
wax,  substituted  gold.  For  we  were,  in  truth,  of  clay,  before  Bap- 
tism, but,  after  it,  now  of  gold.  How  so  ?  hear  himself  say,  '  the 
first  man  was  of  the  earth,  earthy,  the  second  man  heavenly,  from 
heaven.'  There  is  not  so  much  difference  between  clay  and  gold,  as 
between  earthly  and  heavenly."  So  also  in  the  Western  Church. 
'*  If  we  are  the  sons  of  God,"  says  St.  Cyprian,*  "  if  we  have  al- 
ready begun  to  be  His  temples,  if,  having  received  the  Holy  Ghost, 
we  live  holily  and  spiritually,  if  we  have  raised  our  eyes  from  earth 
to  heaven,  if  we  have  lifted  up  our  breast,  full  of  God  and  Christ  to 
things  above  and  Divine,  let  us  do  only  things  worthy  of  God  and 
Christ,  as  the  Apostle  urges  and  exhorts,  '  If  ye  have  risen  again 
with  Christ,  seek,'  &c.  We  then  who  have  both  died  and  been  bu- 
ried in  Baptism,  as  to  the  carnal  sins  of  the  old  man,  who  have  risen 
together  with  Christ  by  a  heavenly  re-generation,  let  us  both  speak 
and  do  the  things  of  Christ,  as  the  same  Apostle  again  teacheth  and 
exhorteth,  '  The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy,  the  second  Man 
from  heaven.'  As  is  the  earthy,  so  are  they  also  who  are  of  the 
earth  ;  and  as  is  the  Heavenly,  such  are  the  heavenly.  As  we  have 
borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  let  us  bear  also  His  image,  Who  is 
*  from  heaven.'  But  we  cannot  bear  the  heavenly  image,  unless  we 
realize  the  likeness  of  Christ  in  that  which  we  have  begun  to  be. 
For  this  is  it,  to  have  changed  what  thou  wast,  and  begun  to  be  what 
thou  wast  not,  that  thy  Divine  birth  may  shine  forth  in  thee,  so  that 
a  Divine  life  may  correspond  to  a  Divine  Father,  and  through  the 
honor  and  praise  of  thy  life,  God  in  man  may  be  glorified."  And 
St.  Ambrose,!  "  Lastly,  what  hast  thou  to  do  with  the  earth,  who 
didst  rise  with  Christ  ?  Seek  those  things  which  are  above,  where 
Christ  is  ;  set  your  affections  on  the  things  above,  not  on  those  on 

*  De  Zelo  et  Livore,  p.  359,  60.  ed.  St.  Maur. 
t  In  Ps.  cxviii.  $  37. 


145 

ihe  earth.  We  died  to  the  earth  ;  we  hid  our  hfe  with  Christ  in  our 
God  ;  now,  not  we  hve,  but  Christ  liveth  in  us.  Why  return  we 
again  to  earthly  things  ?" 

And  so,  when  St.  Paul  continues,  (ver.  9 — 11.) — 

"  Lie  not  one  to  another,  seeing  that  ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his 
deeds,  and  have  put  on  [or  been  clothed  with]  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed 
after  the  image  of  Him  Who  created  Him,  where  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek  ;  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision  ;  barbarian,  Scythian;  bond  nor  free; 
but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all ;" 

the  modern  interpretation  finds  a  description  of  "  conversion*  con- 
tained in  these  two  parts — the  putting  off  of  the  old,  and  the  putting 
on  of  the  new  man,  whereof  the  former  comprises  the  acknowledge- 
ment, hatred  of,  and  fleeing  from  sin,  the  latter  the  earnest  seeking 
after  righteousness ;"  and  "  the  image  of  God  or  Christ,  peculiar 
to  saints,  consists  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness, whereby  we  in  a 
manner  express  the  character  of  God  our  Father  and  Saviour;"  or  hav- 
ing "  put  off  the  old  and  put  on  the  new  man,"  means  "having  solemn- 
ly professed  to  do  the  one,  and  declared  it  as  your  resolution  to  do  the 
other,  or  to  put  on  all  the  branches  of  that  contrary  temper  and  dis- 
position which  constitute  the  Christian  character  :"t  and  "  Christ 
being  all  and  in  all,"  signifies  that  "  Christ  alone,  received  in  true 
faith,  in  this  respect  supplies  every  thing,"  according  to  the  common 
meaning  of  the  lerm,  "to  be  all  in  all  to  one  ;"t  or  "  Christ"  means 
"  the  spiritual  rigrhteousness  of  Christ,"^  or  the  "new  man,  or  image 
of  Christ,"  or  (in  the  downward  course  of  such  expositions,)  that 
"  our  restoration  to  the  Divine  image  is  all  in  all."l!  True,  as  far  as 
it  goes,  but  remarkable  in  this,  that  as  they  lose  sight  of  Baptism,  to 
which  the  correspondence  with  the  like  language  to  the  Galatians 
should  have  guided  them,  they  lose  also  the  reality  and  depth  of 
Christ's  gifts.  The  ancient  Church,  which  saw  that  this  stripping 
off  the  old  man,  and  putting  on  the  new,  took  place  through  "  all- 
holy  Baptism, "TI  saw  also  not  only  that  Christ  is  "  all  in  all"  to  us, 
but  His  indwelling  in  us.     "  Behold  a  third  excellence  of  this  new 

*  Vorst,  ad  loc  f  Doddridge,  ad  loc. 

J  Vorst  adds,irt  explanation,  "  Christus — quod  dici  solet,  utramque  jjaginam 
facit ;"  Calvin,  "  Christus  solus  proram  et  puppim  (ut  aiunt)  principium  et 
finem  tenet." 

^  Calv.  ad  loc. 

11  Mr.  Simeon,  Horse  Homil.  ad  loc.  "  It  seems  that  to  interpret  the  word 
'  Christ'  as  meaning  the  image  of  Christ,  or  the  New  Man,  is  to  take  a  great 
and  ahnost  an  unwarrantable  liberty  with  Scripture.  Nevertheless,  if  we 
compare  some  other  passages  with  the  text,  we  shall  find  that  we  are  fully 
authorized  to  put  this  construction  upon  it.  The  meaning  then  is  simply  this  : 
we  should  be  daily  putting  off  our  old  and  corrupt  nature,  and  be  putting  on 
a  new  and  holy  nature  ;  because  nothing  else  will  be  at  all  regarded  by  God." 

T[  Theodoret  ad  loc. 

5* 


146 

man,"  says  St.  Chrysostom,*  "  that  no  distinction  of  race,  or  dignity; 
or  ancestry,  enters  here  ;  and  he  who  hath  none  of  these  outward 
things  needeth  them  not.  For  all  these  are  outward  things,  circum- 
cision or  uncircumcision  ;  slave,  free  ;  Greek,  i.  e.  proselyte  or  Jcw^, 
by  birth.  If  you  only  have  Him,  you  will  oblain  the  same  as  those 
who  have  them  ;  '  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all,  i.  e.  Christ  will  be  all 
things  to  you,  both  dignity  and  race  ;  and  He,  One  and  the  Same 
in  you  all ;  i.  e.  not  all  in  all  to  us  by  any  outward  relation,  but  be- 
cause dwelling  in  all.  St.  Paul  says  not  only  "  all  in  all,"  but 
(which  this  interpretation  overlooks,)  "  Christ  is  all  things,  a7id  in 
all ;"  He  is  all  things,  and  in  all  His  members  ;  as  the  Father  is  all 
in  all,  being  One  God  with  Him.  It  was  not  again,  "righteousness 
and  true  holiness"!  alone,  that  we  have  put  on,  but  as  St.  Ambrose:}: 
says,  "  Christ  Himself;"  "  We  have  then  put  on  Christ,  as  also  it 
is  elsewhere  said,  (Gal  iii.  27.)  'Ye  have  put  on  Christ.'"  And 
thus  "  the  renewal  after  the  image  of  Him  Who  created  us,"  is  not 
simply  "a  new  and  spiritual  nature,  obtained  through  faith  in 
Christ,"^  wrought,  as  it  were,  from  without,  nor  "  a  conformity  or 
likeness  with  God,"|| — these  speak  of  the  results,  not  of  the  cause — 
nor  simply  a  re-creation,  as  Aclam  was  created  by  the  will  of  God — 
it  is  more  than  all  these  ;  it  is  a  re-creation  within,  it  is  the  restora- 
tion of  the  image  of  God,  in  that  we  are  in  Him,  Who  is  "  the  Im- 
age of  the  invisible  God ;"  it  is  His  Image,  in  Whom  we  are,  and 
Who  is  in  us,  developing  Itself,  absorbing  and  converting  into  Itself, 
though  imperfectly  in  this  life,  all  which  is  other  than  It,  and  mak- 
ing us  an  image  of  God,  not  by  virtue  only  of  "  a  rectitude  and  puri- 
ty, whereby  we  are  consecrated  to  God,"|i  but  hv  virtue  of  that  com- 
munity with  our  Lord,  which  we  have  through  His  Incarnation,  and 
His  consequent  interchange  with  man  ;  He  "  taking  our  human  na- 
ture into  God,"^[  and  imparting  the  Divine**  to  man. 

Thus  St.  Hilary,  having  shown  that  the  subjection  of  the  Son, 
spoken  of  by  St.  Paul,  that  "  God  might  be  all  in  all,"  implied  not 
an  inferiority  of  the  Son,  but  the  complete  glorification  of  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus,  in  that,  asft  we  are  subjected  to  Christ,  by  becoming 
partakers  of  that  glory  wherein  He  reigns  in  the  Body,  so  Christ  to 
God,  through  the  perfect  communication  of  the  Divine  glory  to  His 
human  nature,  thus  concludes, |J  "  This  '  subjection'  then  is  our  gain, 

*  Ad  loc.  f  Vorst  Loci  Comm.  ad  loc. 

t  In  Ps.  cxviii.  17. 

§  Vorst.  Schol.  ad  loc.  and  "  This  creation  is  nothing  else  than  the  spiritual 
re-formation  of  men  tlirough  the  preaching  of  the  word,  and  the  efficacy  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  vi^hereby  we  are  gradually  more  and  more  renewed  after  the  im- 
age of  Christ,  so  that  we  are  not  undeservedly  called  new  creatures,  or  new 
men." — Loc.  Comm.  ib. 

II  Calv.  ad  Eph.  iv.  24.  ^  Athan.  Creed.  **  2  Pet.  i.  4. 

it  De  Trin.  1.  xi.  c.  36.  1%  Ib.  c.  49. 


147 

vur  advance,  in  that  we  are  made  conformed  to  the  glory  of  the  Body* 
of  God.  But  the  Only  Begotten,  God,  although  He  be  also  born  as 
man,  yet  is  He  '  all  in  all,'  no  otherwise  than  as  God.  For  that  sub 
jection  of  the  Body,  whereby  what  He  hatli  of  the  flesh  is  absorbed 
into  the  nature  of  spirit,  will  cause  Him  to  be,  as  God,  '  all  in  all,' 
Who  besides  God  is  also  man ;  but  that  our  Manf  is  advancing 
thereto.  But  we  shall  advance  toward  a  glory  conformable  to  that 
of  our  Man,  and  having  been  renewed  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  shall 
be  re-formed  after  the  Image  of  the  Creator  according  to  that  of  the 
Apostle,  '  Being  stripped  oi  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  clothed 
with  tlie  new  man,  wiio  is  renewed  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  after 
the  Image  of  Him  Who  created  him.  Man,  therefore,  hath  his  con- 
summation as  the  image  of  God.  For  having  been  made  '  conform- 
ed to  the  glory  of  the  Body  of  God,  he  passes  forth  into  the  Image 
of  the  Creator,  according  to  that  type  which  was  ordained  in  the 
first  man.  And  after  sin  and  the  old  man,  having  been  made  a  new 
man  for  the  knowledge  of  God,  he  attains  the  perfection  of  what  he 
has  been  made,  acknowledging  his  God,  and  thereby  His  image  ; 
and  through  reverential  worship  advancing  to  eternity,  and  through 
eternity  to  remain  the  image  of  His  Creator."  Of  a  truth  the  an- 
cient Catholic  system,  ever  contemplating  the  Redeemer,  not  only  as 
the  Saviour  of  sinners,  but  as  "  Very  God,  of  Very  God,  Who  for 
us  men,  and  for  our  salvation,  was  Incarnate  of  the  Holy  Ghost," 
possessed  an  awful  intensity  of  Divine  truth,  which  the  modern,  ever 
contemplating  man  and  his  sins,  and  groping  amid  the  defilements 
of  his  fallen  nature,  has  lost  all  power  of  beholding,  and  could  scarce- 
ly bear  to  look  on,  or  contemplate  reverentially,  being  but  so  partially 
conformed  to  that  ineffable  Glory,  the  means  of  Whose  communi- 
cation to  us,  the  Sacraments  of  our  Lord,  it  so  shrinks  fromconfess- 

St.  Ambrose  gives  the  same  exposition  4  and  it  may  be  useful  to 
see,  in  this  instance  also,  how  this  more  literal  interpretation  of  Holy 
Scripture,  besides  removing  a  difficulty,  illustrates  the  co-equality 
of  the  Persons  of  the  Ever-Blessed  Trinity.  "  But  since  the  Father, 
and  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  are  of  one  Nature,  the  father  will  not  be 
subjected  to  Himself.  And,  therefore,  the  Son  will  not  be  subjected 
in  that,  wherein  He  is  One  with  the  Father,  lest  through  the  Unity 
of  the  Godhead,  the  Father  also  should  seem  to  be  subjected  to 
the  Son,  As  then  in  the  Cross,  not  the  fulness  of  Godhead,  but 
our  weakness  was  made  subject,  so  hereafter  also  shall  the  Son  be 
subjected  to  the  Father,  in  the  participation  of  our  nature,  so  that  the 
enticements  of  the  flesh  being  made  subject,  riches,  ambition,  plea- 

*  Phil.iii.  21. 

f  "  The  human  nature  taken  by  Christ." — Bened.  note. 
X  De  Fide.  L.  5.  c.  14.  \  175—177. 


148 

sure,  should  no  longer  be  loved,  but  God  be  all  to  us,  if,  as  far  as  we 
are  capable,  we  live  in  all  things  after  His  Image  and  likeness.  The 
benefit  then  passed  from  the  individual  to  the  whole  ;  because  in  His 
own  flesh  he  subdued  the  nature  of  all  human  flesh.  And,  therefore, 
according  to  the  Apostle,  'As  we  have  borne  the  image  of  this  earthly, 
let  us  bear  the  image  of  this  heavenly.'  And  that  you  may  know 
that  w^here  he  says,  '  that  God  may  be  all,  and  in  all,'  he  does  not 
separate  Christ  also  from  God  the  Father,  himself  says  to  the  Col- 
lossians,  'where  is  neither  male  and  female,  Jew  and  Greek,  Barba- 
rian and  Scythian,  bond  and  free,  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all.'  So 
then,  w^hen  he  says  to  the  Corinthians,  'that  God  may  be  all,  and  in 
all,'  he  comprehendeth  also  the  unity  and  equality  of  Christ  with  God 
the  Father,  since  neither  is  the  Son  separate  from  the  Father.  And, 
in  like  manner  as  the  Father  is  all  and  in  all,  so  also  doth  Christ  a/50 
ivork  oil  in  all.  If  then  Christ  also  worketh  all  in  all,  it  was  not  in 
the  majesty  of  the  Godhead,  but  in  us  that  He  was  subjected."  And 
in  another  place  he  shows  that  the  <;o-equality  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  also  herein  involved,  "  For*  neither  did  he  make  any  differ- 
ence of  power  or  virtue,  when  he  said,  '  there  are  diversities  of 
graces,  but  the  same  spirit :  and  diversities  of  ministrations,  but  the 
same  Lord  ;  and  diversities  of  operations,  but  the  same  God  who 
Avorketh  all  in  all.'  For  the  Son  worketh  all  and  in  all,  as  you  have 
elsewhere,  that  Christ  is  all  and  in  all."  And  the  Holy  Spirit  work- 
eth, because  '  all  things  worketh  one  and  the  same  Spirit,  dividing 
to  each  as  He  wills.'  There  then  is  no  difference  of  operations, 
no  distinction,  when,  whether  in  the  Father,  or  the  Son,  or  the  Holy 
Spirit,  there  is  the  fulness  of  Virtue,  inferior  to  none." 

In  like  way  S.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,t  "  But  God  will  be  '  all  in 
all'  at  the  time  of  the  restitution, — not  the  father,  the  Son  being 
wholly  resolved  into  Him,  as  a  brand  snatched  for  a  time,  and  then 
kindled  in  a  great  burning  pile — but  God  wholly,  when  we  no 
longer  shall  be  many,  as  now  in  our  emotions  and  passions,  bearing 
about  in  us  nothing  at  all,  or  very  little  of  God,  but  wholly  Deiform, 
capacious  of  God  wholly  and  alone.  For  this  is  the  consummation, 
whereto  we  are  hastening.  And  Paul  himself  attests  this,  for  what 
he  says  undefinedly  of  God,  he  elsewhere  clearly  defines  of  Christ, 
saying,  '  where  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  but  Clirist  is  all  and 
in  all.'" 

ii.  5  "  Having  then  (c'xovTes)  freedom  to  enter  into  the  hoHest  through  the 
Blood  of  Christ,  by  a  new  and  living  way,  which  He  hath  consecrated  for  us, 
through  the  veil,  that  is,  his  flesh,  and  having  an  High  Priest  over  the  house  of 
God,  let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart  in  full  assurance  of  faith,  having  had 
our  hearts  sprinkled  {ti^avTi(rfum()  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  the  body  washed 
(\eXoviiii.oi)  with  pure  water." — Heb.  x.  19 — 22. 

*  Expos.  Evang.  sec.  Luc.  Prolog.  {  5.     t  Orat.  30.  Theol.  4,  c.  6. 


149 

St.  Paul  has  been  contrasting  at  length  the  realities  of  the  Gospel 
with  the  shadows  of  the  law ;  "  he  had  shown,"  says  St.  Chrysostom,* 
"  the  utter  difference  between  High  Priest,  and  sacrifices,  and  tab- 
ernacle, and  promise,  the  one  being  temporal,  the  other  eternal ;  the 
one  ready  to  vanish  away,  the  other  abiding ;  the  one  weak,  the 
other  perfect ;  the  one  types,  the  other  the  truths  ; — the  one  new, 
and  having  remission  of  sins,  the  other  having  nothing  such ;  the 
one  made  with  hands,  the  other  made  without  hands  ;  the  one  having 
the  blood  of  goats,  the  other  of  the  Lord  ;  the  one  a  priest  standing, 
the  other  sitting.  All  these  things  being  inferior  in  the  one,  superior 
in  the  other,  therefore  he  says,  '  having  then  freedom.' "  In  this 
close  contrast  then  of  realities  and  figures,  it  is  plainly  required  to 
look  for  some  corresponding  reality  to  the  "  sprinklings,''  and  "  ablu- 
tions" of  the  law,  which  St.  Paul  says  Christians  had  received  ;  and 
this  reality  plainly  had  an  outward  part,  since  he  says,  their  "bodies 
had  been  washed  with  pure  water,"  and  an  inward,  in  that  their 
"  hearts  had  been  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience."  This  "sprink- 
ling" also,  and  "  v/ashing,"  had  taken  place  in  lime  past,  although 
their  effects  endured ;  they  "  had  been  washed,"  "  had  been  sprink- 
led."! Holy  Baptism  could  then  hardly  be  more  plainly  pointed 
out,  as  the  reality  corresponding  to  these  temporary  figia-es,  as  giving 
us  access  to  our  Holy  of  Holies,  into  which  nothing  profane  or  de- 
filed may  enter  :  and  the  relation  between  the  law  and  the  Gospel  is 
thus  preserved,  in  that  the  law  by  its  "divers  washings,"  continually 
shadowed  forth  the  purity  necessary  for  the  worshipper  of  the  Holy 
God  ;  the  Gospel  gives  it ;  and  as  the  One  Sacrifice  was  portrayed 
in  the  many  sacrifices,  "  which  could  never  make  the  comers  there- 
unto perfect ;"  so  the  one  application  of  that  Sacrifice  through  the 
"  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  by  the  many  baptisms  or 
washings,  which  taught  the  Jew  to  long  earnestly  to  be  "  washed 
throughly  from  his  wickedness,  and  cleansed  from  his  sins."  It 
might  seem  also  that  the  two  modes  of  administering  Baptism,  sprink- 
ling and  immersion,  were  here  authorized.  The  letter  also  of  Scrip- 
ture is,  in  this  way,  carefully  regarded,  no  other  exposition  accounting 
for  the  mention  of  the  washing  of  the  body  at  a]l,|  or  for  St.  Paul's 

*  Ad  loc. 

f  Neglecting  this,  and  supposing  St.  Paul  to  speak  of  the  present  time, 
Ribera  argues  that  Baptism  could  not  be  meant,  "  because  the  Hebrew  Chris- 
tians had  been  already  baptized,"  and  so  he  admits  that,  had  his  view  been 
true,  the  present  would  have  been  used,  and  that  the  past,  which  is  used,  would 
apply  to  Baptism. 

j  "  I  agree  not  with  those  who,  confessing  that  the  Apostle  alludes  to  water 
of  expiation  or  purification,  understand  a  mystical  or  spiritual  water"  [an  ex- 
pression of  Zuingli,  see  note  P.  ad  loc]  "  of  which  David  says,  '  thou  shall 
wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow.'  But  these  acute  persons  do  not  see 
that  David  does  not  even  name  the  body  ;  but  Paul  speaks  not  onlj'  of  an  evil 
conscience,  but  also  of  the  body,  to  which  that  mystical  [metaphorical]  water 


150 

referring  to  a  past  washing.  Were  inward  purification,  without  the 
intervention  of  any  outward  means,  alone  intended,  the  mention  of 
the  body  at  all  is  unaccounted  for.*  Accordingly  Christian  Anti- 
quityt  saw  undoubtingly  that  St.  Paul  did  here  speak  of  our  Baptism. 
"  They,"  paraphrases  St.  Chrysostom,  "  were  sprinkled  as  to  the 
body,  we  as  to  the  conscience  ;  so  that  now  also  we  may  be  sprink- 
led, but  by  the  very  Virtue  and  Power  itself;  '  and  having  had  our 
bodies  washed  with  pure  water ;'  he  here  speaks  of  the  batb,  ivhich 
is  a  cleanser  not  [as  among  the  Jews]  of  the  bodies  but  of  the  soul." 
He  hath  "  placed  these  things  again  as  parallels,"  says  Theodoret, 
"  for  they  used  '  sprinklings,'  in  the  law  also,  and  washed  the  body 
continually.  But  they  Avho  live  after  the  new  covenant,  are  purified 
as  to  the  soul  by  all-holy  Baptism,  and  make  the  conscience  free 
from  its  former  stains.  He  calls  Divine  Baptism  then  '  sprinkling' 
and  '  pure  water,'  but '  the  confession  of  our  hope'  belief  in  the  good 
things  to  come." 

It  was  then,  as  having  been  hallowed  by  Baptism,  (and  that,  as 
connected  with  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord,  "  through  the  veil,  that 
is  to  say,  His  Flesh,")  that  St.  Paul  taught,  that  we  might  venture  to 
draw  near  towards  those  heavens,  where  our  ascended  Lord  now  is, 
and  which  he  had  "  opened  to  all  believers."  He  had  consecrated 
the  way  by  entering  thither  first  Himself,  and  we  have  access  thither 
through  the  veil,  or  the  paiticipation  of  His  Flesh  ;  but  the  opening 
of  the  way  did  not  at  once  enable  us  to  follow  :  our  nature  was  atoned 
for,  our  nature  had  been  raised  from  the  dead,  had  been  sanctified, 
but  not  we  ourselves ;  for  us  then  it  was  further  necessary  that  we 

does  not  belong  ;  and  the  Apostle's  words,  '  The  heart  sprinkled  from  an  evil 
conscience.'  sufficiently  explain  the  power  of  that  spiritual  and  mystical 
water,  and  so,  when  he  adds,  '  and  having  had  the  body  washed  with  pure 
water,'  he  indicates  something  else,  or  rather  explains  what  he  had  said,  as 
though  indicating,  that  the  spiritual  water,  whereby  the  conscience  is  sprinkled, 
is  united  with  corporeal  water,  wherewith  the  body  is  sprinkled,  as  is  the  case 
in  Baptism." — Justinian,  ad  loc. 

*  Piscator,  accordingly,  in  paraphrasing  the  passage,  omits  all  mention  of 
this  clause,  "As  they  who,  of  old,  were  about  to  approach  the  outward  [1] 
worship  of  God,  washed  the  body  with  pure  water,  out  of  the  laver  placed  for 
this  end  before  the  tabernacle,  so,  that  the  faithful  may  rightly  approach  to  the 
spiritual  worship  of  Cod,  they  must  have  their  hearts  washed  by  the  Blood  of 
Christ,  i.e.  that  they  may  have  remission  of  sins  by  His  Blood."  (Ad  loc.) 
But  St.  Paul  says  not,  that  Christians  have  had  their  souls  washed  as  the  Jews 
had  their  bodies,  which  this  explanation  would  require,  but  that  Christians 
might  approach  to  their  Holy  of  Holies,  having  had  their  bodies  washed. 
Parous  admits  the  allusion  to  Baptism,  hut  as  "  a  symbol"  only,  i.  e.  when  St. 
Paul  speaks  of  our  having  realities,  he  says,  we  have  the  shadows. 

f  "  '  Pure  water,'  the  water  of  Baptism  ;  for  of  it,  Chrysostom,  Theodoret, 
Theophylact,  CEcumenius,  Ambrose,  explain  this  passage ;  it  '  so  toucheth  the 
body,'  as,  in  Augustine's  words,  '  to  wash  the  heart' — There  is  then  no  reason 
to  depart  from  the  common  sentiment  of  the  Fathers."  Justinian,  ad  loc. 
Calvin  admits  "  most  understand  this  of  Baptism."  Ad  loc. 


151 

should  be  individually  made  partakers  of  that  cleansing,  and  this  St. 
Paul  says  had  been  done  for  them  ;  their  hearts  Jiad  been  cleansed 
from  an  evil  conscience,  as  their  bodies  cleansed  by  pure  water. 
Baptism  had  joined  them  on  to  Christ,  and  made  them  partakers  of 
His  holiness,  and  fitted  them  to  appear  before  Him.  And  thus 
cleansed,  they  vi^ere  to  remain  clean  ("  with  a  true  heart,")  and  draw 
near  with  faith  in  Him,  looking  upon  Him  their  High  Priest.  It  is 
characteristic  that  the  ancient  interpretation,  recognizing  herein  our 
Lord's  Sacrament,  taught  men  to  look  to  their  Lord,  and  what  He 
had  done  for  them,  modern,  which  sees  not  the  sacrament  to  look  to 
themselves.*  "  He  of  necessity  added,"  says  Theodoret,t  "  '  in  full 
assurance  of  faith,'  since  all  are  invisible,  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and 
the  Sacrifice,  and  the  High  Priest,  and  are  contemplated  by  faith 
alone.  The  meaning  then  is  this,  since  the  things  of  grace  have 
been  shown  to  be  far  greater  than  those  of  the  law,  and  heaven  has 
been  opened  to  us,  and  the  way  is  comely,  and  our  Lord  Christ  first 
trod  it,  let  us  draw  near  with  a  sincere  affection,  believing  these 
things  to  be  so,  and  casting  all  doubting  out  of  the  soul.  For  this 
he  calls  a  full  assurance."  And  after  the  passage  already  quoted, J 
"  This  he  subjoins,  '  for  faithful  is  He  who  promised.'  True  is  He, 
Who  gave  the  promise.  From  the  quality  of  the  Person  he  shoios 
the  firmness  of  the  promise.''^  So  the  ancients  ;  but  the  moderns  :^ 
*"full  assurance  of  faith,'  i.  e.  a  filial  confidence,  and  certain  per- 
suasion of  the  fatherly  favor  of  God  towards  us.  And  this  faith, 
or  confidence,  he  explains  by  setting  forth  of  its  producing  cause, 
that  through  faith  our  hearts  are  sprinkled  by  the  blood  of  Christ, 
and  so  washed  and  cleansed  from  an  evil  conscience,  that  we  are  no 
more  conscious  to  ourselves  of  sins."  The  ancient  Church  looked 
*^  with  a  full  and  sound  ||  faith,"  careful  to  believe  all  which  God  had 
revealed,  and  to  lose  nothing  of  the  objects  of  faith :  the  modern 
school  looks  to  that  which  is  unrevealed,  "  a  certain  persuasion  of 
God's  fatherly  favor  to  ?«." 

iii.  The  chief  doctrinal  texts  concerning  Baptism  have  naturally 
been  considered  under  the  former  heads  ;  it  remains  to  point  out  as 
to  other  places  in  Holy  Scriptvire,  in  which  there  is  mention  of,  or 
allusion  to,  this  Sacrament,  how  much  higher  dignity  is  thereby  as- 
cribed, or  implied  to  belong  to  it,  or  how  much  more  essential  an 
oflSce  it  holds  in  God's  way  of  justifying  man  ;  or  how  much  more 
large  a  place  it  occupies  in  His  hints  and  notices  of  His  mercies 
towards  us,  than  most,  who  in  these  days  most  highly  esteem  of  it, 
are  probably  accustomed  to  think.     This  shall  be  done  by  (1)  re- 

*  See  Mr.  Newman  on  Justification,  Lee.  13.  On  preaching  the  gospel ;  and 
Sermons,  vol.  ii.  Serm.  15.  "  Self-contemplation." 
f  Ad  loc.  t  P.  185. 

^  Piscator,  ad  loc-  f  Chrys.  ad  loc. 


152 

viewing  some  few  texts  in  which  Baptism  seems  to  be  incidentally 
mentioned  ;  (2)  the  mode  in  which  Scripture  history  speaks  of  it, 
when  actually  conferred  upon  individuals.  (3)  Indications  of  its 
dignit)^,  arising  from  circumstances  connected  with  our  blessed  Sa- 
viour's Person,  or  prophetic  declarations  or  types  of  Baptism  recog- 
nized by  Scripture,  by  the  ancient  Church,  or,  as  derived  from  it,  by 
our  own. 

iii.  1.  Incide7ital  mention  of  Baptism i 

a)  "  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church,  and  gave 
Himself  for  it ;  that  He  might  sanctify  it,  having  cleansed  it  with  the  washing 
of  water  by  the  word,  that  He  might  present  it  to  Himself  a  glorious  Church, 
not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,  but  that  he  should  be  holy  and 
without  blemish." — Eph.  v.  25-27. 

This  text  is  in  many  ways  very  remarkable.  It  occurs  in  the 
practical  portion  of  the  Epistle,  where  St.  Paul  is  giving  plain  pre- 
cepts, as  it  would  seem,  on  the  duties  of  wives  and  husbands,  chil- 
dren and  parents,  servants  and  masters  ;  and  to  these,  in  the  corres- 
ponding part  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  he  confines  himself; 
to  the  Ephesians, — as  being  a  Church,  it  appears,  in  the  most  spi- 
ritual state  of  any  to  whom  he  wrote, — he  gives  hints  of  mysteries, 
which  cannot  be  exhausted,*  bearing  upon,  and  deepening  the  char- 
acter of  one  of  those  dvities  ;  with  w^hich  again  he  binds  up  the  Sa- 
crament of  Baptism.  And  as  it  is  consequently  a  melancholy  mark 
of  our  times,  that  a  portion  of  "  the  world"  has  already  begun  to 
shrink  from  tliis  comparison  between  the  relations  of  marriage,  and 
those  of  Christ  to  His  Church,  so  it  is,  undoubtedly,  not  unconnected 
with  it,  but  a  part  of  the  same  state  of  feeling,  which  depreciates 
Baptism,  thus  connected  by  St.  Paul  with  it.  And  in  the  one  case, 
we  can  feel  that  it  is  a  degradation  of  our  moral  and  religious  tone, 
which  makes  men  thus  start  at  having  a  relation,  about  which  their 

*  "  Because  all  mysteries  are  not  equal,  but  one  greater,  another  less,  there- 
fore he  now  saith,  '  this  is  a  great  mystery  ;'  at  the  same  time  it  is  expressive 
of  his  humility  that  he  subjoins,  'but  I  speak  it  of  Christ  and  the  Church.' 
Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  a  man  very  eloquent,  and  especially  learned  in  the 
Scriptures,  in  treating  of  this  place  with  me,  used  to  say,  '  See  how  great  the 
mystery  of  this  section,  that  the  Apostle  interpreting  it  with  reference  to 
Christ  and  the  Church,  does  not  say  that  he  had  expressed  himself,  as  the  dig- 
nity of  the  citation  called  for  ;  but  in  a  manner  said,  '  I  know  that  this  place 
is  full  of  unspeakable  mysteries,  and  requires  a  Divine  mind  to  interpret  it; 
but  I,  according  to  the  finiteness  of  my  perception,  think  it  is  to  be  understood 
of  Christ  and  the  Church  ;  not  that  any  thing  is  greater  than  Christ  and  the 
Church,  but  that  all  which  is  said  of  Adam  and  Eve  can,  with  diflficulty  only, 
be  interpreted  of  Christ  and  the  Church."  Jer.  ad  Eph.  v.  32.  "  But  let  us» 
following  the  Apostolic  authority,  who  professed  that  it  was  a  great  mystery, 
but  that  he  understood  it  of  Christ  and  the  Church,  leave  this  place  as  it  is  ua- 
touched."— Hil.  in  Matt.  c.  19.  \  2. 


153 

notions  are  so  earthly,  and  irreverent,  and  common-place,  brought 
into  close  connection  with  the  very  Person  of  our  own  Lord,  as  the  God 
and  Saviour  of  the  Church.  They  start  from  it  riglitly,  and  by  a 
moral  instinct ;  only,  would  that  instead  of  lowering  the  teaching  of 
Holy  Scripture  to  their  own  standard,  or  in  any  other  way  "  hating 
the  light,"  men  would  but  once  lay  to  heart,  how  different  should  be 
the  whole  tone,  wherewith  marriage  should  be  spoken  of,  thought  of, 
encompassed,  realized,  lived  in,  if  it  is  in  any  way  to  furnish 
a  type  of  the  relation  of  Christ  to  His  Church.  How  should 
it  be  a  type  of  that  relation,  when  all  our  language  concern- 
ing it  is  unspiritual,  hovers  around  this  earth,  and  the  things 
and  forms  of  earth,  and  what  would  fain  speak  of  it  in  the  purest 
and  most  elevated  way,  is,  strictly  speaking,  the  language  of  idola- 
try? But  since  this  is  so  as  to  "the  mystery,"  is  it  likely  to  be  other- 
wise as  to  "  the  Sacrament  ?"  when  men  are  profane  about  the  less, 
are  they  likely  to  be  able  to  appreciate  the  greater;  if  they  under- 
stand not  earthly  things,  and  their  relation  to  heavenly,  how  should 
they  understand  the  heavenly  things  themselves  ?  Man  cannot  be, 
thus,  two  distinct  selves  ;  he  cannot  be  at  one  time,  and  on  one  sub- 
ject, carnal,  and  upon  another,  spiritual :  at  one  while  "  of  this 
world,"  at  another,  "  not  of  this  world;"  at  one  while,  with  "the 
beasts  that  perish,"  at  another,  in  "  the  third  heaven  ;"  at  one  while, 
speaking  "  idle  words,"  and  then  hoping  to  "  hear  unspeakable 
words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter ;"  ordinarily,  common- 
place, and  then,  at  will,  exalted  and  spiritual ;  or  else  it  will  be  a 
fictitious  and  perverted  elevation,  like  his  who  would  "  set  his 
throne  among  the  stars,  and  would  be  like  the  Most  High  ;"  an  ele- 
vation produced  by  the  inflation  of  human  vanity,  not  the  lifting  up  of 
the  spirit,  upborne  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Man's  tone  of  mind  upon 
each  several  subject  is  the  result  of  that  with  which  he  has  approach- 
ed or  engaged  in  every  other.  Not  only  in  confirmed  cases,  as  of 
a  buffoon  or  a  jester,  who  cannot,  when  he  would,  be  serious,  but 
in  each  shade,  between  the  ,'^ommon-place  product  of  a  self-indul- 
gent age,  and  him  who,  foi  and  with  His  Lord,  "  died  daily,"  is  that 
saying  verified,  "  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  perceive  them,  because  they  are  spi- 
ritually discerned."  All  see  and  receive  in  their  several  degrees ; 
"  the  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God ;"  and  in  proportion  to  the  purity 
of  each,  shall  each  see  more  of  that  which  none  can  see  fully,  but 
He  who  seeth  infinitely,  God  Himself,  within  Himself,  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  not  then  incidental,  or  lightly  to  be  passed 
over,  that  this  age,  at  best,  shrinks  from  Scripture  language  as  to 
these  outskirts,  so  to  say,  of  the  real  Divine  Sacraments,  which  the 
ancient  Church  following  the    Apostle,  called   "  mysteries."*     An 

*  The  title  "  mystery"  in  this  place  is  generally  referred  by  the  Fathers  to 
the  words  of  Genesis  immediately  preceding,  "  Tiierefore  a  man  shall  leave  his 


154 

age  which  finds  no  mystery,  and  nothing  Divine  in  that  which  Scrip- 
ture has  declared  to  be  so,  and  has  shown  to  bear  the  image  of  our 
Lord,  must  by  a  moral  necessity  find  nothing  but  "  carnal  ordi- 
nances" in  life-giving  Sacraments. 

Further,  as  elsewhere,  in  addressing  a  Church  as  composed  of 
individuals,  the  Apostle  uniformly  spoke  to  them,  in  terms  the  most 
unlimited,  as  having  been  universally  made  partakers  of  the  benefits 
conferred  through  Baptism,  so  here,  where  he  delivers  the  doctrine 
generally,  he  speaks  of  those  benefits  as  bestowed  upon  the  Church, 
and  through  and  in  her  derived  to  her  several  members.  It  is  "  the 
Church"  which  our  Lord  "  loved  ;"  the  Church,  for  which  "  He 
gave  Himself;"  the  Church  which  He  "  cleansed,"  by  the  "washing 
of  the  water  by  the  word,"  that  he  might  afterwards  "  sanctify  her," 
and  so  "  present  her  to  Himself  holy  and  without  blemish  ;"  the 
Church  which  He  "  feedeth  and  cherisheth,"  while  yet  a  wayfarer 
here,  "  given  her"  (as  the  ancient  Church  here  saw  the  allusion  of 
her  privileges)  "  giving  her  His  own  Body  and  Blood."*  And  yet 
he  so  speaks  of  the  whole  Church,  that  it  has  been  doubted  whether 
he  be  speaking  of  her  purity  in  her  militant,  and  not  rather  in  her 
triumphant  state  ;t  but  at  all  events,  to  whatever  period  belongs  that 

father  and  mother,  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  tw^o  shall  be  one  flesh  ;" 
and  St.  Augustine  (in  Joh.  Tract.  9.  <^  10)  expressly  says,  that  St  Paul  added 
these  words,  "but  I  say  it  as  to  Christ  and  His  Church,"  to  show  that  the 
"  mystery,"  was  not  exhausted  in  human  marriage  ;  rather  that  the  words  had 
a  greater  depth  of  mysterious  meaning,  which  he  applied  to  Christ  and  His 
Church.  (See  S.  Greg,  of  Naz.  above,  p.  188,  note.)  So  then  the  words  be- 
long to  human  marriage  as  a  type ;  but  as  to  the  antitype  they  designate  that 
which  marriage  also  designates,  the  relation  of  Christ  to  His  Church.  Mar- 
riage then  is  a  mystery,  as  shadowing  out  that  Union,  and  having  been,  in 
the  first  instance,  a  hidden  prophecy  of  it,  and  now  being  an  image  and  reflec- 
tion of  it-  Theophylact  concisely  expresses  the  sense  of  the  Fathers.  "  The 
blessed  Moses  mysteriously  conveyed  a  great  and  wonderous  thing ;  for  in 
truth  it  is  a  mystery  that  one  should  leave  those  who  begat  him,  who  endured 
hardship  for  him,  who  did  him  good,  and  cleave  to  one  whom  he  had  never 
seen,  nor  had  been  a  benefactress.  Truly  a  great  mystery  ;  meanwhile  '  by 
me  this  is  referred,'  he  says,  '  to  Christ,'  as  having  been  spoken  prophetically 
of  Him.  For  He  also  left  His  Father,  not  by  any  local  removal,  but  by  con- 
descending to  take  flesh,  and  He  came  to  the  bride,  before  wholly  ignorant 
of  Him,  and  became  One  Spirit  with  her-  For  he  that  '  cleaveth  unto  the 
Lord  is  one  Spirit.'  How  then  is  marriage  blamed,  when  Paul  sets  it  forth  as 
a  pattern  of  the  mystery  of  Christ,  and  calls  it  a  mystery."  Marriage  is  a 
mystery  as  pourtraying  the  union  of  the  Church  with  Christ ;  is  not  a  sacra- 
ment, as  not  conveying  it. 

*  Theodoret  ad  loc-  so  Chrys.  ad  loc.  "how  are  we  of  His  Flesh "?  ye  know 
as  many  of  you  as  partake  of  the  mysteries  ;"  and  Jerome  ad  loc.  "  coelesti 
saginans  pane  et  Christi  sanguine  irrigans." 

t  Justinian  quotes  St.  Jerome  on  Jerem.  xxxi.  end  ;  Augustine  de  perf  just. 
c.  15.  [and  so  elsewhere]  as  interpreting  the  words  of  the  Church  triumphant  ; 
the  Apost.  Const.  2.  61-,  Chrysost.   ad  loc,  Jerome  (1),  and  the  6th  Council 


155 

ulterior  purity,  he  speaks  of  her,  as  having  been  wholly  cleansed, 
"  having  cleansed  her,  that  He  anight  sanctify  her,"  ("y'«<'n.  xadafwai.) 
The  end  of  the  cleansing  was,  that  she  might  abide  sanctified,  spot- 
less, unblemished ;  but  He  had,  (it  is  spoken  of  as  an  actual  past 
fact,)  wholly  cleansed  her  once,  and,  accordingly,  all  her  members. 
And  thus  we  have  the  two  doctrines  combined,  first,  that  it  is 
through  the  Church  that  individuals  have  their  cleansing  ;*  second- 
ly, that  they  were  all  cleansed  once,  because  she  v/as  wholly 
cleansed. 

Again,  this  washing  is  absolutely  essential  to  her  cleansing,  and 
so  on  to  her  sanctification,  her  spotlessness,  her  being  present- 
ed to  Him  by  Himself  in  glory.  Such  is  the  order  of  his  dealings  ; 
He  lays  the  "  washing  with  water,"  as  the  foundation  of  all  his  other 
goodness,  does  not  pass  by  His  own  institutions,  does  not  anticipate 
sanctifijcation,  and  annex  Baptism  as  an  outward  seal  of  what  He 
had  before  given,  but  on  the  contrary,  bestows  Baptism  as  the  ear- 
nest of  the  future  continued  sanctification  "  He  had  cleansed  her 
with  the  washing  of  water,  that  He  might  sanctify  her." 

Then  also,  Baptism,  it  appears,  is  not  the  work  of  the  human 
agent,  through  whom  it  is  conferred,  as  men  now  speak  of  it,  as 
though  it  were  a  human  rite,  because,  outwardly  on  the  body,  admin- 
istered by  man.  In  one  sense,  indeed,  the  Apostles,  or  their  suc- 
cessors, baptize,  because  He  gave  them  the  commission  to  "  baptize 
all  nations  ;"  but  then  also  He  who  promised,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world,"  accompanies  their  act,  and  is, 
in  reality  and  truth,  the  only  Baptizer.  It  is  His  Baptism,  not  theirs; 
they  baptize  as  the  servants,  He,  as  the  Lord ;  they  with  water. 
He  "  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire  ;"  they  touch  the  body.  He 
applies  it  to  the  soul ;  they  visibly,  He  invisibly  ;  they  in  obedience 
to  Him,  He  accepts  the  obedience  of  His  Church,  and  "  cleanseth" 
each  new  member,  which  she  presents  unto  Him,  "  with  the  wash- 
ing of  water  by  the  word."  "  It  is  He  who  cleanseth."  And  this 
amid  the  imperfections  of  His  ministers  is  our  comfort,  that  our 
Baptism,  though  "  by  man,"  is  not  "  of  man  ;"  that  to  whomsover 

of  Toledo,  as  understanding  the  Church  militant ;  and  so  apparently  Theodo- 
ret,  to  judge  from  his  words,  "  and  to  remove  her  old  decayed  state'''  to  iraXaiov 
airij?  airo^iaai  yripaq)  which  are  especially  used  of  Baptism. 

*  "  If  regeneration  is  in  the  washing,  i.  e.  in  Baptism,  how  can  heresy,  not 
being  the  bride  of  Christ,  bear  children  to  God  through  Christ  1  For  it  is  the 
Church  alone,  which,  conjoined  and  united  to  Christ,  spritually  bears  sons, 
the  same  Apostle  again  saying,  '  Christ  loved  the  Church,  and  gave  Himself 
for  her,  that  He  might  sanctify  her,  cleansing  her  with  the  washing  of  water.' 
If  she  then  be  the  beloved  and  the  bride,  which  alone  is  sanctified  by  Christ, 
and  alone  is  cleansed  by  His  washing,  it  is  manifest  that  heresy,  which  is  not 
the  bride  of  Christ,  can  neither  be  cleansed  nor  sanctified  by  His  washing, 
nor  can  bear  sons  to  God." — Cyprian,  Ep.  74.  p.  140.  ed.  St.  Maur,  comp. 
Ep.  76.  p.  152. 


156 

He  may  have  committed  the  ministry  of  His  Sacrament,  Himself 
retaineth  and  sendeth  forth  its  Power.  "  Baptism,"  says  St.  Augus- 
tine* often  in  the  Donatist  controversy,  "Baptism  in  the  Name  of 
the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  hath  Christ  for  its  Au- 
thor, not  any  man  ;  and  Christ  is  the  Truth,  not  any  man."  '"Uponf 
whom  thou  seest  the  Spirit  descending  like  a  dove,  and  abiding  upon 
Him,  He  it  is  who  baptizeth  with  the  Holy  Ghost.'  He  sailh  not 
'  He  is  the  Lord  ;'  He  saith  not  '  He  is  the  Christ ;'  He  saith  not 
*  He  is  God ;'  He  saith  not  '  He  is  Jesus  ;'  He  saith  not  '  it  is  He 
who  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  after  thee,  and  before  thee  ;'  He 
saith  not  this,  for  this  John  already  knew.  But  what  knew  he  not? 
That  the  Lord  Himself  would  hold  and  retain  so  wholly  the  power  of 
Baptism,  (whether  present  on  earth,  or  in  Body  absent  in  heaven,  and 
present  in  Majesty,)  that  Paul  should  not  say,  '  my  Baptism,'  nor 
Peter,  'my  Baptism.'  See  then,  observe  the  words  of  the  Apos- 
tles. No  one  of  them  has  said,  '  my  Baptism.'  Although  they  had 
all  one  Gospel,  yet  you  find  that  they  said,  'my  Gospel ;'  but  that 
they  said,  '  my  Baptism,'  you  find  not."  "  So  then.t  we  find  it  said 
by  the  Apostles,  as  well '  my  glory,'  (though  indeed  '  in  the  Lord,') 
and  '  my  ministry,'  and  '  my  skill,'  and  '  my  Gospel,''^  (although  in- 
deed imparted  and  given  by  the  Lord;)  but  '  my  Baptism,'  none  of 
them  hath  ever  said.  For  the  '  glory'  of  all  is  not  equal,  nor  do 
all  '  minister'  equally,  nor  are  all  gifted  with  equal  '  skill,'  and,  in 
'  preaching  the  Gospel,'  one  worketh  better  than  another,  and  so  one 
may  be  said  to  be  better  taught  than  another  in  the  saving  doctrine 
itself:  but  one  cannot  be  said  to  be  more  baptized  than  another, 
whether  he  be  baptized  by  a  greater  or  by  a  less."  "  The  Baptism, || 
which  Peter  gave,  was  not  Peter's  but  Christ's  ;  and  that  which 
Paul  gave,  was  not  Paul's  but  Christ's ;  and  that  wdiich  they  gave, 
who  in  the  Apostle's  time  announced  Christ  not  purely,  but  out  of 
envy,  was  not  theirs  but  Christs;  and  that  which  they  gave,  who  in 
Cyprian's  time,  seized  on  lands  by  fraud,  increased  their  gains  by 
manifold  usuries,  was  not  theirs  but  Christ's.  And  because  it  was 
Christ's,  therefore,  though  given  through  persons  unequal,  yet  it 
equally  profited  those  to  whom  it  was  given."  "  LetTI  not  any  one  be 
alarmed  that  they  [the  Donatists]  are  wont  to  say,  that  then  is  it  the 
true  Baptism  of  Christ,  when  given  by  a  righteous  man,  whereas  the 
whole  world  holds  that  most  evident  and  evangelic  truth,  in  that  John 
says,  '  He  who  sent  me  to  baptize  with  water,  said  unto  me,  '  Upon 
whom  thou  seest  the  Spirit  descending — He   it  is   who   baptizeth 

*  C.  litt.  Petil.  L.  2.  5  57.  f  In  Joh.  Ev.  Tract.  5.  5  9. 

X  De  Bapt.  c  Donatist.  L.  5.  c.  14. 

6  1  Thess.  ii.  20.  Rom.  xi.  13.  Eph.  iii.  4.     2  Tim.  ii.  8. 

11  Ep.  93.  ad  Vincent.  Donat.  {  47. 

1  Ep.  89.  [al.  167.]  ad  Festum,  5  5. 


157 

■with  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Whence  the  Church,  freed  from  all  anxiety, 
placelh  not  her  hope  in  man,  lest  she  should  fall  into  that  sentence, 
'  Cursed  is  every  one  who  putteth  his  hope  in  man,'  but  puttelh  her 
hope  in  Christ,  who  in  such  wise,  '  took  the  form  of  a  servant,'  as 
not  to  lose  '  the  Form  of  God,'  of  whom  it  is  said,  '  He  it  is  who 
baptizeth.'"  "  Since,*  then,  John  had  received  a  Baptism,  properly 
entitled  '  the  Baptism  of  John,'  bm.  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  not 
give  His  Baptism  to  another, — not  that  no  one  was  to  baptize  with 
the  Baptism  of  the  Lord,  but  that  it  should  always  be  the  Lord  Him- 
self who  baptized, — it  was  so,  that  the  Lord  baptized  through  min- 
isters, ['  Howbeit  Jesus  himself  baptized  not,  but  His  disciples,'] 
i.  e.  that  those  whom  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  should  afterwards 
baptize,  the  Lord  shoidd  baptize,  not  they.  For  it  is  one  thing  to 
baptize,  as  a  minister,  another  to  baptize  with  power.  For  the  Bap- 
tism takes  its  nature  from  him,  in  whose  power  it  is  given,  not  from  him, 
through  whose  ministry.  'The  Baptism  of  John,'  was  such  as  John  ; 
a  righteous  Baptism  as  of  one  righteous,  yet  a  man ;  but  of  such  a 
man  as  had  received  of  the  Lord  that  grace,  and  so  great  grace,  as 
to  be  held  worthy  to  go  before  the  Judge,  and  point  to  Him,  and  ful- 
fil the  words  of  that  prophecy, '  The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wil- 
derness. Prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.'  But  the  Baptism  of  the 
Lord  is  such  as  the  Lord  :  therefore  the  Baptism  of  the  Lord  is  Di- 
vine, because  the  Lord  is  God.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  could,  had 
He  so  pleased,  have  given  the  '  power'  to  any  of  His  servants,  to 
confer  Baptism,  as  it  were,  in  His  stead,  and  transfer  from  Himself 
the  power  of  baptizing,  and  deposit  it  with  His  servant,  and  give  to 
the  Baptism  so  transferred  to  His  servant  the  same  efficacy,  as  had 
the  Baptism  given  by  the  Lord.  This  He  therefore  would  not  do, 
that  the  hope  of  the  baptized  might  rest  in  Him,  by  whom  they  ac- 
knowledged themselves  to  be  baptized-  He  would  not  have  the  ser- 
vant put  his  hope  in  a  servant."  And  with  reference  to  our  passage, f 
"  That  baptism  alone,  which  John  gave,  was  called  the  Baptism  of 
John.  That  great  man  received  this  as  the  chief  office  of  his  dis- 
pensation, that  the  precursory  sacrament  of  the  bath  should  be  called 
his  also,  by  whom  it  was  administered  ;  but  the  Baptism  in  which 
the  disciples  ministered,  was  never  said  to  be  any  of  theirs,  that 
it  might  be  understood  to  be  His,  of  whom  it  is  said,  '  Christ  loved 
the  Church,  and  gave  Himself  for  it,  that  He  might  sanctify  it, 
cleansing  it  with  the  washing  of  water  in  the  word.'  "  Thus  much 
may  the  rather  be  said,  because  the  Donatist  heresy  (being,  like  all 
others,  a  corrupt  tendency  of  our  nature)  re-appears  in  different  forms, 
its  peculiar  feature  being  to  look  to  the  servant,  and  not  to  the  Lord  ; 
to  man's  comparative  or  reputed  sanciit)%  not  to  His  Sanctifying 
Presence  ;  to  things  visible,  not  to  those  invisible.     It  is  one  and  the 

*  In  Job.  Tract,  v.  {6,  7.  f  C  litt.  Petil.  L.  3.  \  68. 


158 

same,  whether  it  make  vaUd  Baptism,  according  to  the  error  direct- 
ly condemned  by  our  Churcli,*  to  depend  on  the  sanctity  of  the  ad- 
ministering priest,  supposing  the  grace  of  our  Lord's  Sacraments  to 
depend  upon  the  ciiaracter  of  the  channel!  through  which  it  is  con- 
ducted, and  vainly  purposing  to  guard  its  purity,  and  raise  its  great- 
ness through  the  personal  qualities  of  sintul  man  ;  or  whether  look- 
ing to  it  as  administered  by  sinful  man,  it  depreciate  the  Sacra- 
ment, which  He  has  retained  in  His  own  keeping.  In  either  case 
it  looks  to  man,  and  "  in  its  heart  departeth  from  the  Lord  ;"  in  either, 
it  creeps  among  things  of  sense,  instead  of  seeing  Him  who  is  invisi- 
ble, the  Lord  of  the  Church,  "  Who  loved  her,  and  gave  Himself 
for  her,  that  having  cleansed,  He  might  sanctify  her." 

*  "  Neither  is  the  effect  of  Christ's  ordinance  taken  away  by  their  wicked- 
ness  [that  of  evil  Ministers],  nor  the  grace  of  God's  f,n/i(5  diminished  from  such 
as,  by  faith  and  rightly  do  receive  the  Sacraments  ministered  unto  them; 
which  be  effectual,  Because  of  Christ^s  institution  and  promise,  although  they 
be  ministered  by  evil  men." — Art.  XXVI. 

f  "  A  proud  minister  is  accounted  like  Satan  ;  but  the  gift  of  Christ,  which 
flows  through  him,  is  not  defiled.  That  which  passes  through  him,  is  pure  ; 
it  comes  I'resh  to  the  fertile  earth;  be  it  that  he  is  of  stone,  he  cannot,  through 
that  stream,  bear  fruit.  Through  the  pipe  of  stone,  the  water  passes  to 
the  ridges  ;  in  the  stone  pipe  it  produceth  not,  yet  the  garden  bringeth  much 
fruit.  For  the  spiritual  virtue  of  the  Sacrament  is  like  light ;  it  is  both  re- 
ceived pure  by  those  to  be  enlightened,  and  although  it  pass  through  the  un- 
clean is  not  defiled."  Aug.  in  Joh.  Tr.  5.  J  15.  "  Tlie  Baptism  of  Christ,  con- 
secrated by  the  words  of  the  Gospel,  is  holy  even  in  and  through  adulterers, 
since  its  holiness  cannot  be  defiled,  although  they  are  unchaste  and  unclean, 
and  the  power  of  God  ascompanieth  His  Sacrament,  either  to  the  salvation  of 
those  who  use  it  aright,  or  their  destruction  who  use  it  amiss.  Doth  then  the 
light  of  the  sun,  or  even  of  a  lantern,  contract  no  defilement,  when  diffused 
tlirough  marshy  places,  and  is  the  Baptism  of  of  Christ  defiled  by  the  guilt  of 
any  V  De  Bapt.  c,  Donat.  3.  c.  10.  "As  if  what  a  faithless  husbandman  plant- 
ed, for  his  faithlessness  did  not  put  forth  his  vital  powers,  and  the  fruitfulness 
of  the  earth  and  genialness  of  the  heaven  did  not  receive  such  efficacy  from 
God,  that  they  need  only  the  laborer  to  plant  and  water,  unconcerned  with 
what  end  he  doeth  it,  wliether  he  faithfully  love  the  Lord  of  the  field  or  seek 
his  own,  not  his  Master's  gain."  C  Cresc.  L.  3.  c.  8.  "  Through  the  ear  are 
the  grains  carried  to  be  cleansed  on  the  floor,  and  though  the  chaff  be  useless, 
yet  doth  it  benefit  the  wheat ;  so  the  failings  of  the  ministers  injure  not  Christ's 
faithful  ones,  so  that  the  Sacraments,  by  them  administered,  should  become 
inefficacious."  Aug.  Ep.  ad  Hieron.  and  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  in  an- 
swer to  those  who  practically  preferred  one  minister  to  another  ;  "  Be  there 
two  seals,  one  of  gold,  the  other  iron,  but  each  engraved  with  the  same  royal 
image,  and  be  they  stamped  upon  wax,  what  will  tlie  one  seal  differ  from  the 
other]  Nothing.  Siiill'ul  if  thou  art,  recognize  the  material  in  the  wax  !  Tell 
me  which  is  the  impress  of  the  iron,  which  of  the  gold,  and  how  it  is  one.  For 
the  difference  is  in  the  material,  not  in  the  mould.  So  be  baptized  by  whoso- 
ever it  may  be.  Whether  in  life  one  excel,  still  the  power  of  the  Baptism  is 
the  same,  and  any  will  equally  perfect  you,  if  himself  be  cast  in  the  same  Faith" 
[against  Arain  Baptism].  Orat.  40.  De  S.  Bapt.  \  26.  The  above  references 
are  brought  together  by  Vossius  de  Bapt.  Disp.  9.  Thes.  13. 


159 

Further,  Baptism  is  the  communication  of  our  Lord's  Passion, 
and  the  proof  of  His  love  to  the  Church.  "  He  loved  her,  and  gave 
Himself  for  her,  that  He  might  sanctify  her,  having  cleansed  her  by 
the  washing  of  water."  *'  He  gave  Himself  for  her,"  but  this  was 
yet  something  external  to  her  ;  He  died  for  all  mankind  ;  yet  are  not 
all  partakers  of  that  Precious  Death  ;  but  beyond  this,  "  He  cleans- 
ed her,  that  He  might  sanctify  her."  He  applied  to  her  the  merits 
of  His  Passion,  made  them  her  own,  through  the  washing  of  water 
He  cleansed  her  with  His  own  Blood, washed  away  every  defilement, 
each  spot  and  wrinkle,  became  the  Saviour  of  the  body,  that  she 
might  be  subject  to  Him  here  in  holiness  and  spotlessness,  and  reign 
with  Him  in  glory.  And  so,  in  more  faithful  times,  they  felt  that 
Baptism  was  identified  with  His  Passion,  having  its  own  efficacy 
from  It,  and  communicating  It's  virtue  to  us.  "  In  like  sort,"  says 
Bp.  Jewel,  "S.  Chrypostome  writeth*of  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism," 
"  '  St.  Paul  showeth  that  the  Blood  and  the  water  are  one.'  For 
Christ's  Baptism  is  Christ's  Passion  also,"  or,  as  he  says  again,t 
"  What  the  cross  and  grave  was  to  Christ,  that  has  Baptism  been 
made  to  us."  "  The  sacrifice  of  our  Lord's  passion  every  man  then 
offers  for  Himself,  when  he  is  dedicated  in  the  faith  of  His  Passion," 
says  St.  Augustine  :J  and  again,  "  The  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  is  then 
in  a  manner  offered  for  each,  when  by  being  baptized  he  is  sealed  in 
His  name  ;"  and  again, §  "  No  man  may  in  any  wise  doubt,  that 
each  of  the  faithful  then  becomes  a  partaker  of  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  the  Lord,  when  in  Baptism  he  is  made  a  member  of  Christ." 
*'  Well  are  washed  in  the  passion  of  the  Lord,"  says  Tertullian.  "In 
Baptism,"  again  says  St.  Chrysostome,T[  "  we  are  incorporate  into 
Christ,  and  made  flesh  of  His  flesh,  and  bone  of  His  bone."  The 
body  of  the  regenerated  (i,  e.  by  Baptism)  becomes  "  the  flesh  of  the 
crucified,"  saith  St.  Leo  ;**  and  again, ft  "  Thou  art  bedewed  with  the 
blood  of  Christ  when  thou  art  baptized  into  His  death."  "  Let  us 
be  washed  in  his  blood,"  saith  St.  Bernard.!!  "  By  these  few  it  may 
appeare,"  says  Bishop  Jewel,^v)  "  that  Christ  is  present  at  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Baptisme,  even  as  He  is  present  at  the  Holy  Supper :  un- 
lesss  ye  will  say,  we  may  bee  made  flesh  of  Christ's  flesh,  and  bee 
washt  in  His  blood,  and  bee  partakers  of  Him,  and  have  him  '  pres- 
ent,' without  His  '  presence.'     Therefore  Chrysostome,  when  he  had 

*  Ep.  ad  Hebr.  Horn.  16.  quoted  by  Bp.  Jewel,  Replie  to  Harding,  p.  285. 

t  lb.  287. 

X  l'',xpos.  Inchoat.  ad  Romanos,  ib.  p.  422. 

§  Serm.  ad  Infant,  ib.  p.  21,  239,  292,  449. 

II  De  Baptismo,  ib.  p.  287.  "H"  In  Ep.  ad  Ephes.  ib.  292. 

**  De  passione  Domini,  S.  4.  ap-  Jewel,  Defence  of  Apologie,  p.  221. 

If  In  Serm.  de  4ta  feria,  c  1.  ib-  p.  20. 

XX  Bern.  Super  Missus  est  Horn.  3.  ibid.  ^§  L.  c. 


160 

spoken  vehemently  of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Supper,  hee  concludeth 
thus,  Even  so  is  it  also  in  Baptisme." 

And  so,  we  may  see  why  St.  Paul,  in  this  place,  speaks  in  two 
words  only,  of  Christ's  precious  Blood-sliedding,  or  rather  of  His 
whole  Life  and  Death  for  the  Church,  and  then  dwells  on  the  value 
of  the  gift  of  Baptism,  and  of  the  sanctification  of  the  Church  thereby 
conveyed.  He  does  so  because  it  is  Baptism,  which  makes  that 
precious  Blood-shedding  our's. 

Lastly,  it  may  be  observed  that  St.  Paul  mentions  no  other  instru- 
ment but  Baptism  ;  for  in  that  he  says,  "  with  the  washing  of  water 
hy  the  ivord,^''  he  means,  (as  appears  both  by  the  force  of  the  term,  and 
the  authority  of  the  ancient  Church*)  the  Divine  word  which  renders 
the  element  of  water  efficacious  to  our  regeneration,  our  Blessed 
Saviour's  "word"  of  Consecration.  "  By  what  word?"  "  In  the 
Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  says 
St.  Chrysostom  ;  and  so  Theodoret,  "  That  saying,  '  having  cleansed 
in  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,'  stands  for,  '  In  the  Name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.' "  The  original 
word,  moreover,  here  employed  Vpw'^,)  is  used  of  the  "  command"! 
of  God,  or  of  His  '*  promise, "|  or  of  a  specific  revelation,  "  the  word 
of  the  Lord  came  to,"'^  but  not  in  the  sense,  which  would  be  required 
by  the  modern  interpretation, ||  of  revelation,  written  or  unwritten, 
not  of  the  word  preached  or  written.  For  this  there  is  used  the  plu- 
ral pw'^-ra*^  or  -^"/"^^  and  so,  as  elsewhere,  the  observation  of  the  pecu- 
liarity of  Scripture  language,  and  the  authority  of  the  ancient  Church, 
coincide  in  their  results. 

And  thus  in  a  passage,  which  modern  habits  pass  over  so  slightly, 
there  are  contained,  it  appears,  the  doctrines  that  Christ's  special 
love  to  the  Church  is  manifested  in  His  two  Sacraments  ;  that  Bap- 
tism is  essential  to  her  sanctification  ;  that  it  is  an  abiding  blessing 
to  her,  preparing  her,  through  her  state  militant,  for  eternal  glory, 
and  for  His  Presence  and  complete  Union  with  Him  ;  that  it  is 
through,  and  in  her,  that  individuals  partake  of  these  blessings  ;  that 
it  is  He,  not  man,  who  baptizeth  ;  that  Baptism  is  the  communica- 
tion of  His  Passion. 

And  this  concentration  of  doctrine  in  this  place  is  the  more  re- 
markable, inasmuch  as  the  Apostle  draws  no  inference  whatever 
from  this  description  which  he  gives  of  the  purity  of  the  Church, 

*  See  Note  (F)  at  the  end. 

t  Matt.  iv.  4  ;  Heb.  13;  xi.  3  ;  Rom.  x.  8.  (from  the  LXX.) 

X  Heb.  vi.  5  ;  1  Pet.  i.  25.  ^  1  Pet.  iii.  2. 

II  •'  The  instrument,  by  which  this  grace  is  conveyed  to  the  soul,  is  the  word 
of  God.  The  word,  both  written  and  preached,  is  that  whereby  we  are  begot- 
ten of  Him."  Mr.  Simeon  ad  loc.  The  words,  "  the  instrument,"  have  the 
more  force,  since  Mr.  S.  had  just  spoken  of  the  baptismal  washing,  as  an  ex- 
ternal sign  only. 

1  John  V.  47;  vi.  63,  68  ;  viii.  20,  47,  &c. 


161 

but  simply  concludes  as  he  began,  "  so  ought  men  to  love  their  wives 
as  their  own  bodies,-^even  as  the  Lord  the  Church."  The  only- 
point  of  comparison  which  he  insists  on,  is  the  fostering  love  of 
Christ,  which  the  husband  was,  in  his  relation,  to  imitate  :  and 
threfore,  since  St.  Paul  thus  singled  out  and  dwelt  upon  the  gift  of 
Baptism,  he  must  have  had  most  exalted  notions  of  that  Sacrament, 
as  a  proof  of  the  love  of  the  Saviour  of  the  Church,  "  in  nourishing 
and  cherishing  it."  For  neither  does  man  launch  out  into  such  a  fer- 
vid description  as  this,  without  strong  emotions  as  to  the  value  and 
excellency  of  what  he  so  describes.  And  so  one  may  say,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit,  in  filling  the  Apostle's  mind  with  such  high  notions  of 
the  continual  love  and  Providence  of  Christ  for  His  Church,  as  man- 
ifested in  the  efficacy  which  he  gave  to  the  water  of  Baptism  to  sanc- 
tify and  cleanse  it,  and  in  causing  him  to  dwell  in  such  glowing  terms 
on  the  purity  thereby  to  be  effected,  must  have  intended  to  work  a 
corresponding  love  in  us,  and  to  correct  the  cold  and  unloving  so- 
phisms of  sense  and  reason  about  the  power  of  our  Lord's  institution. 
And  yet  I  would  confidently  appeal  to  a  large  number  of  persons  in 
the  present  day,  whether,  often  as  they  have  dwelt  upon  this  animat- 
ing description  of  the  sanctification  and  spotlessness  of  Christ's 
Church,  they  have  not  (with  a  tacit  feeling  of  not  entering  into  them) 
pass  by,  almost  unnoticed,  the  words  "  with  the  washing  of  water," 
to  which,  however,  the  Apostle  throughout  refers  in  his  subsequent 
picture  of  the  Church's  unblemishedness  ?  And  if  so,  is  it  not  time 
mat  we  seek  to  correct  this  variance  between  the  Apostle's  feelings 
and  our  own  V* 

iii.  I.  P.  "  There  is  one  body,  and  One  Spirit,  even  as  ye  were  called  in  one 
hope  of  your  calling,  One  Lord,  one  Faith,  One  Baptism,  One  God  and  Fa- 
ther of  all,  Wht)  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all." — Eph.  iv.  4. 

*  It  is  painful  to  see  Calvin's  continual  anxiety  lest  too  much  should  be  at- 
tributed to  the  Sacrament,  even  while  he  rightly  vindicates  it.  "  It  is  as  if  he 
said  that  a  pledge  of  that  sanctification  was  given  in  Baptism.  Altliough  we 
need  a  sound  exposition  here,  lest  men  make  themselves  an  idol  out  of  the  Sa- 
crament, (as  often  happens)  through  a  perverse  superstition,  &c."  and  soon; 
and  yet  even  he  had  to  speak  against  others,  who  "  toiled  (sudant)  in  paring 
down  and  weakening  this  panegyric  upon  Baptism,  lest  too  much  should  be 
assinged  to  the  symbol,  if  it  were  called  the  bath  of  the  soul."  Ad  loc.  Of 
such  is  Vorst,  who  even  denies  that  the  passage  has  any  reference  to  the  Sa- 
crament of  Baptism  at  all.  "  It  is  to  be  observed,  moreover,  that  they  griev- 
ously err,  who  suppose  that  in  this  place  the  power  of  sanctifying,  and  washing 
away  sins,  is  ascribed  in  this  place  to  the  outward  baptism  with  water ;  nay 
who  build  upon  it  the  doctrine  of  the  '  opus  operatum  ;'  whereas  in  truth,  not 
that  outward  baptism,  but  the  inward  and  spiritual  washing  of  the  soul,  (where- 
of that  is  only  the  sign  and  seal,)  is  here  spoken  of."  Ad  loc  This  is  followed 
by  more  recent  writers,  e.  g.  Mr.  Simeon,  ad  loc.  "  The  washing  of  water  in 
baptism  was  only  the  external  sign  of  that  spiritual  grace  which  it  is  the  de- 
light of  His  soul  to  bestow." 
VOL,  11.-^6 


162 

Such  are  the  grounds  upon  which  St.  Paul  exhorts  to  Christran 
unity.  Christians  were  to  abide  at  one,  because  they  had  been  made 
one.  "  One  Body,"  the  Church,  vivified  by  "  One  Spirit,"  though 
manifesting  Himself  in  divers  ways  ;  "  one  ho|-e  in  which  they  had 
been  called,"  of  life  everlasting,  in  the  Holy  Presence  and  fruition  of 
God  ;  "  one  Lord  ;"  "  one  Faith"  in  Him  ;  "  one  Baptism"  into  Him, 
and  so  into  "  God*  the  Father,  Who  is  '  above  all,'  the  Author  of  ally 
God  the  Son,  Who  is  '  through  all,'  as  having  been  by  Him  created ; 
God  ihe  Holy  Ghost,  Who  is  '  in  all,'  for  He  is  given  to  believers, 
and  we  are  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Father  and  the 
Son  dwell  in  us."  Well  might  St.  Chrysostome  say,t  "  When  the 
Blessed  Paul  exhorts  to  some  greater  effort,  being  very  understand- 
ing and  spiritual,  he  founds  his  exhortation  on  things  in  heaven,  hav- 
ing learnt  this  from  the  Lord."  But  to  this  end,  he  appeals  to  the 
gifts,  the  high  heavenly  gifts  which  they  had  all  received  ;  "  He:}; 
seeheth  of  us  no  ordinary  charity,  but  one  which  should  glue  and  join 
us  indissolubly  to  each  other,  and  have  the  same  unitedness  as  of 
limb  with  limb,"  and  "ye|  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling, 
i.  e.  God  hath  called  you  to  the  same  things.  He  hath  not  given  to 
one  more  than  to  another  ;  freely  hath  He  bestowed  on  all,  immortal- 
ity— on  all,  eternal  life — on  all,  undying  glory — on  all,  brotherhood 
— on  all,  inheritance.  He  became  the  common  hope  of  all,  co-raised 
all,  and  seated  them  with  Himself,"  These  He  hath  bestowed  up- 
on all;  other  gifts  have  been  given  "according  to  the  measure  of 
the  gift  of  Christ,"  but  continues  St.  Chrysostome,  "  The  very  head 
and  chief  things  are  common  to  all.  Baptism,  to  be  saved  by  Faith, 
to  have  God  for  our  Father,  all  to  partake  of  the  same  Spirit."  As 
has  been  well  said,  "  all  are  things  inward,  belonging  to  the  Church 
and  to  its  several  members."  Our  "  one  regeneration  and  engraffing 
into  Christ,"  may  well  occupy  its  place  among  our  most  glorious 
privileges,  for  it  is  the  basis  of  all  the  rest ;  the  earnest  of  the  Spir- 
it, the  ground  of  our  hope,  the  gift  or  confirmation  of  our  faith,  the 
union  with  Christ,  and  thereby  with  His  Father  and  our  Father,  how 
should  it  not  be  a  thing  most  inward  ?  and  how  should  we  be  asham- 
ed, if  we  think  only  of  the  outward  symbol  under  which  it  is  made 
visible  to  us,  as  separate  from  its  inward  grace  ;  and  of  that  which 

*  "Quidara"  ap.  Hieron.  ad  loc.  His  own  interpretation  differs  only,  in  that 
he  says,  "  per  omnes  Filrus,  quia  cuncia  transcurrit  vaditque  per  omnia,"  and 
in  the  last  more  concisely  "  in  omnibus  Spiritus  Sanctus,  quia  nihil  absque 
ipso  est."  St.  Athanasius  in  the  same  way,  "  The  Trinity  is  holy  and  perfect, 
equal  within  Itself,  indivisible  in  Nature,  It's  operation  One.  For  the  Father 
doth  all  things  through  the  Word  in  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  thus  the  Unity  of 
the  Holy  Trinity  is  preserved.  And  thus  One  God  is  preached  in  the  Church, 
Which  is  '  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  all ;'  '  above  all,'  as  the  Father, 
and  Origin  and  Fountain  ;  'through  all,'  through  the  Word;  ' in  all,'  in  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Ep.  ad  Serapion.  c.  28.  p.  676,  7.  ed  Ben. 

t  Horn.  X.  in  Eph.  iv.  init.  J  Hom.  xi.  init. 


163 

St.  Paul  places  among  God's  chief  gifts,  yea  with  His  gift  of  His 
Son  our  Lord,  and  His  Holy  Spirit,  make  but  a  lifeless  carcass  with- 
out a  soul ! 

It  may  yet  be  remarked,  how  sound  faith  and  Baptism  are  thus 
again  blended  together,  as  before  in  the  holy  words  of  Baptism,* 
Baptism  being  the  depository,  as  it  were,  and  guardian  and  perpetu- 
ator  of  sound  faith  in  the  Church.  For  so,  having  named  one  com- 
mon hope,  the  Apostle  goes  on  to  speak  of  our  one  source  of  hope, 
our  "  One  Lord,"  and  thence  of  the  "  One  Faith,"  which  was  de- 
linered  to  the  saints,  the  "  One  Faith,"  as  having  One  object 
of  Faith ;  and  thence  of  the  "  One  Baptism,"  wherein  this 
Faith  was  delivered  to  us,  to  be  retained  through  life  and  death  ; 
and  thence  of  the  Holy  Trinity  in  Unity,  "  One  God  and  Father, 
Who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  all."  It  is  not  then  as  an 
outward  form  that  Baptism  is  here  named,  but  as  "  in  power,"  seal- 
ing us,  and  sealing  up  our  Faith  in  us,  which  in  it  was  named  up- 
on us,  and  in  which  we  were  baptized,  our  Faith  in  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  so  among  the  ancient  fathers, 
St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  after  a  full  and  sound  confession  of  the 
Holy  Trinity, t  "  whosoever  this  day  threatens  let  him  grant  me  to 
retain  these  words,  and  all  beside  take  who  will !  The  Father  en- 
dureth  not  to  be  deprived  of  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
but  He  is  deprived,  if  ever  they  were  not,  if  they  are  creatures.  For 
that  which  is  created  is  not  God.  Nor  can  even  I  endure  to  be  de- 
prived of  that  which  perfected  me.  '  One  Lord,  one  Faith,  one 
Baptism.'  If  this  be  made  invalid,  from  whom  shall  I  receive  a  sec- 
ond ?  What  say  ye,  ye  destructive-baptists,  and  anabaptists  1%  Can 
one  be  spiritual  without  the  Spirit  ?  or  partaketh  he  of  the  Spirit, 
who  honoreth  not  the  Spirit  1  or  honoreth  he  who  is  baptized  into 
one  created  and  a  fellow-servant  ?  Not  so,  not  so.  I  will  not  belie 
Thee,  Unoriginated  Father ;  I  will  not  belie  Thee,  Only-Begotten 
Word ;  I  will  not  belie  Thee,  Holy  Spirit.  I  know  Whom  I  have 
confessed.  Whom  renounced,  with  Wliom  been  imited.  I  endure 
not,  having  been  taught  the  words  of  the  faithful,  to  learn  infidel ;  to 
have  confessed  the  truth,  and  follow  after  falsehood  ;  to  go  down 
[into  the  water]  to  be  perfected,  and  return  more  imperfect;  to  be 
baptized  as  for  life,  and  be  stifled  in  the  water — Why  make  me  at 
once  blessed  and  wretched,  new-enlightened  and  unenlightened,  Di- 
vine and  Godless,  that  I  may  suffer  shipwreck  of  the  hope  of  my  re- 
formation." And  St.  Athanasius,^  in  the  same  way,  so  characteristic 
of  the  ancient  Church,  while  he  blends  the  passage  of  St.  Paul  with 

*  See  above  p.  74.  sqq. 

t  Oral.  33.  adv.  Arian.  c.  17.  p.  614,  15.  ed.  Ben. 

j  The  Eunomians  who  re-baptized  "  in  the  name  of  the  Father  uncreated, 
and  the  Son  created,  andtlie  Holy  Ghost  created  by  the  created  Son." — Epiph. 
ap.  Bened. 

^  Ep.  3.  ad  Scrapion.  c.  6.  p.  695.  ed.  Ben. 


164 

our  TiOrd's  commission  to  baptize,  connects  the  confession  of  tlie  true 
Faith  with  the  grace  and  blessings  of  Baptism.  "For  this  cause  the 
Lord  Himself  united  His  own  JName  with  the  Name  of  the  Father, 
to  show  that  the  Holy  Trinity  consisted  not  of  different  Beings,  i.  e. 
of  a  Creator  and  a  creature,  but  that  It  is  One  Godhead.  This,  Paul 
liaving  learnt,  taught  that  the  grace  given  therein  was  one,  saying, 
'  One  Lord,  one  Faith,  one  Baptism.'  As  there  is  one  Baptism,  so 
also  one  Faith.  For  whoso  believeth  in  the  Father,  in  the  Father 
knoweth  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit  not  out  of  the  Son.  And,  tberefore, 
he  believeth  in  the  Son  also,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  inasmuch  as 
the  Godhead  of  the  Trinity  is  also  One,  being  known  from  the  One 
Father."  And  so  also  Hilary,  in  his  solemn  way,  developes  the  con- 
nection of  the  mention  of  "  One  Lord,  One  Faith,  One  Baptism^ 
One  God  and  Father  of  all."*  "  The  Apostle,  manifoldly  treating  of 
the  entire  and  perfect  mystery  of  the  Evangelic  Faith,  among  other 
precepts  also  of  Divine  knowledge,  uttered  this  also  to  the  Ephesians, 
'  like  also  as  ye  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling.  One  Lord, 
one  Faith,  one  Baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  and  through  all, 
and  in  us  all.'  For  he  did  not  leave  us  to  the  uncertain  and  erratic 
search  after  an  undefined  doctrine,  nor  abandoned  the  human  intel- 
lect to  uncertain  opinions,  but  closed  up  the  liberty  of  the  under- 
standing and  will  by  opposed  bars,  not  allowing  us  to  be  wise,  except 
to  that  which  he  had  preached  ;  the  definite  settling  of  an  immutable 
Faith  not  permitting  belief  to  wander  to  and  fro.  Preaching,  there- 
fore, to  us  One  Lord,  he  mentions  one  Faith  ;  then  mentioning  one 
Faith  in  One  Lord,  he  points  out  also  one  Baptism,  that  since  there 
was  one  Faith  in  One  Lord,  there  might  be  also  one  Baptism  in  the 
Faith,  which  being  in  One  Lord  was  one.  And  because  every  Sa- 
crament, whether  of  Baptism  or  Faith,  as  it  is  in  '  One  Lord,'  so  also 
is  in  '  One  God,'  he  closes  up  the  consummation  of  our  hope  by  the 
profession  of  One  God,  that  there  was  one  Baptism  and  one  faith,  a? 
in  One  Lord,  so  also  in  One  God,  Each  then  is  one,  not  by  Union, 
but  by  Personality,  since  it  both  Personally  belongs  to  each  to  be 
One,  (whether  to  the  Father,  because  He  is  the  Father,  or  to  the 
Son,  because  He  is  the  Son,)  and  what  Each  is  in  His  own  Person- 
ality, the  mystery  of  Unity  is  to  Both  ;  inasmuch  as  neither  doth 
there  being  '  One  Lord,'  Christ,  take  away  from  God  the  Father  that 
He  is  Lord,  nor  doth  there  being  One  God  the  Father  deny  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  He  is  God  :  since,  if  thereby  that  there  is 
'  One  God,'  it  should  seem  not  to  belong  to  Christ  to  be  God,  it  must 
also  be  that  since  there  is  '  One  Lord,'  Christ,  it  should  not  belong 
to  '  God,'  to  be  '  Lord,'  i.  e.  if  the  being  'One,'  be  understood  not  as 
indicative  of  the  mystery  of  the  Personality  of  each,  but  as  exclusive 
of  Their  Unity.     There  is  then  both  '  one  Baptism,'  and  'one  Faith/ 

*  De  Trin.  L.  xi.  c.  1, 2. 


165 

of  '  One  Lord,'  as  also  of  '  One  God  the  Father.'     But  this  Faith  is 
no  longer  one,  if  it  shall  not  retain  in  the  profession  of  conscience, 

*  One  Lord,  and  One  God  the  Father.'  But  how  doth  a  'Faith,' 
which  is  not  '  one,'  confess  '  One  Lord  and  One  God  the  Father  V 
But  one  it  will  not  be,  amid  such  a  diversity  of  assertions,  if  one 
shall  believe  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  when  the  nails  pierced  his 
hands,  groaned  through  the  pang  of  our  infirmity,  and  destitute  of 
the  Virtue  of  His  own  Nature  and  power,  feared  at  the  terrors  of  His 
now  approaching  Death  ;  if  moreover  he  shall  deny  That  which  was 

*  the  Beginning'  to  have  been  born,  and  assert  rather  that  He  was 
created  :  if  he  shall  rather  call  Him,  than  understand  Him  to  he 
God ;  since  we  may  without  impiety  speak  of'gods,^  but  to  understand 
but  One  '  God,^  is  the  consciousness  of  the  Divine  Nature  implanted 
in  us.  But  Christ  is  no  longer  One  Lord,  if  to  one  He  grieves  not, 
as  God,  to  another  he  fears  as  being  weak ;  to  one  He  be  God  by 
Nature,  to  another  by  title  ;  and  to  one  be  a  Son  by  Generation,  to 
another  by  appellation.  And  so  neither  is  God  the  Father  One  in  the 
Faith,  if  by  some  He  be  believed  to  be  the  Father  through  power, 
(inasmuch  as  God  is  the  universal  Father,)  by  others,  through  Gen- 
eration. Further,  who  would  doubt  that  to  be  out  of  the  Faith  which 
is  without  the  '  one  Faith  ?'  for  in  the  '  one  Faith'  there  is  both  ''  One 
Lord,'  Christ,  and  '  One  God  the  Father.'  But  the  '  One  Lord,' 
Christ,  is  then  only  not  in  name  but  in  faith  One  Son,  if  He  be 
God,  if  He  be  unchangeable,  if  He  never  cease  to  be  either  God  or 
the  Son.  Whoso  then  shall  preach  Christ,  other  than  He  is,  i.  e. 
neither  as  the  Son,  nor  as  God,  will  preach  another  Christ.  But 
neither  is  he  comprehended  in  the  one  faith  of  the  one  Baptism,  be- 
cause according  to  the  Apostolic  doctrine,  that  is  the  one  Faith  of  the 
one  Baptism,  whose  One  Lord  is  Christ,  both  Son  of  God  and  God." 

Defective  as  any  extract  from  a  work  of  such  close  thought  must 
needs  be,  this  may  serve  to  indicate  how  the  deeper  value  for  the 
*'  one  Baptism"  was  bound  up  with  a  deeper  and  more  settled  appre- 
hension of  the  "  one  Faith,"  more  alive  to  the  testimonies  which 
Scripture  yields  to  that  one  Saving  Faith  in  the  Holy  Trinity,  which 
they  had  in  Baptism  received,  as  well  as  with  a  deeper  adoration  of 
the  "  One  Lord  and  One  God."  Where  moderns  see  only  a  general 
argument  for  what  they  think  Christian  unity,  and  unity  of  will,  the 
Ancients  saw  actual  union  through  "  the  one  Baptism  in  the  one 
Faith,  in  One  Lord  and  One  God ;"  where  moderns  see  only  the 
general  tenor  of  what  lies  on  the  surface,  the  Ancients  searched 
deeply  into  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture  ;  and  where  moderns  find 
rather  a  difficulty,  as  if  the  "  One  Lord"  were  different  from  the 
"  One  God,"  the  Ancients  saw  the  proof  that  He  who  was  by  Person 
One  Lord,  was  by  His  Unity  with  the  Father  One  God ;  they  saw 
and  adored. 


166 

iii.  1.  y.  "  As  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  but  all  the  members 
of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is  Christ ;  for  in  One  Spirit 
were  we  all  baptised  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond 
or  free,  and  were  all  made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit." — 1  Cor.  xii.  12,  13. 

To  the  Galatians  St.  Paul  inculcated  their  actual  unity  as  derived 
from  having  been  baptized  into  One  Christ ;  so  here  again,  to  the 
Corinthians,  from  their  having  been  "  baptized  in  One  Spirit ;"  there- 
by shewing  that  to  be  baptized  into  Christ  is  to  be  baptized  in  the 
One  Spirit;  and  neither  is  the  Baptism  of  Christ  without  the  Spirit, 
nor  is  there  a  Baptism  of  the  Spirit  without  the  Baptism  instituted 
by  Christ.  "  The  naming  of  Christ,"  says  St  Basil,*  "  is  the  con- 
fession of  the  whole  Trinity  ;  for  it  declares  God  Who  anointed,  and 
the  Son  Who  was  anointed,  and  the  Spirit  the  Anointing,  as  we  have 
learnt  of  Peter  in  the  Acts,  '  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Whom  God  anointed 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,'  and  in  Isaiah,  '  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
Me,  wherefore  He  anointed  Me;'  and  the  Psalmist,  'wherefore  God, 
Thy  God,  hath  anointed  Thee  with  the  Oil  of  gladness  above  Thy 
fellows  ;'  and  sometimes  he  seems  to  make  mention  of  the  Spirit  only 
in  Baptism,"  quoting  this  place — And  these  two  passages  bear  the 
more  remarkably  upon  each  other,  in  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  so 
ordered,  that,  however  different  the  argument  upon  which  they  im- 
mediately bear,  the  same  illustration  of  the  oneness  of  the  body  of 
Christ  is  used  in  both.  "  All  you  who  were  baptized  into  Christ, 
put  on  Christ.  There  is  in  Him  («'»")  neither  Jew  nor  Greek  ;  there 
is  in  Him  neither  bond  nor  free  ;  there  is  in  Him  neither  male  nor 
female  ;  for  ye  are  all  one  («'«)  in  Christ  Jesus  ;"  and  so  here,  all, 
however  many,  are  one,  because  "we  all,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks, 
bond  or  free,  were  all  baptized  into  one  body  in  One  Spirit;"  as 
tliough  by  this  identity  of  illustration,  the  more  closely  to  identify 
the  Baptism  into  Christ  with  the  Baptism  in  the  Spirit.  For  in 
Baptism  the  Spirit  is  the  Agent.  It  is  not  any  outward  or  visible 
incorporation  into  any  mere  visible  body,  (since  for  a  mere  visible 
union  there  needed  not  an  Invisible  Agent,)  but  an  invisible  engraffing 
into  Christ,  by  the  invisible  working  of  the  Spirit.  We  are  no  oth- 
erwise, the  Apostle  says,  "  baptized  into  the  one  body,"  than  "  in  the 
One  Spirit."  There  is  no  distinction,  as  if  some  were  baptized  into 
the  "  outward  body  of  professing  believers,"  as  men  speak,  others  into 
the  invisible  and  mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  true  Church  ;  some 
baptized  with  water,  others  with  the  Spirit ;  "  we  were  a//,"  St. 
Paul  says,  "  baptized  into  one  body  in  One  Spirit ;"  so  then,  if  any 
had  not  been  baptized  in  the  One  Spirit,  neither  would  they  have 
been  of  the  one  body.  "What  he  says  is  this,"  says  St.  Chrysostom,t 

*  De  Spir.  S.  c.  12.  "  against  those  who  said  Baptism  into  the  Lord  alone,, 
sufficed." 
t  Horn.  30.  in  Ep.  1.  ad  Cor.  ^  1.  2. 


167 

*'  that  which  caused  us  to  be  one  body,  and  regenerated  us,  is  One 
Spirit ;  for  the  one  was  not  baptized  in  the  One  Spirit,  the  other  in 
another  ;  and  not  only  was  That  which  baptized  us,  One,  but  that 
also  into  which,  i.  e,  for  which  He  baptized  was  one.  For  we  were 
baptized,  not  to  become  different  bodies,  but  that  we  might  all  pre- 
serve towards  each  other  the  close  adherence  of  one  body,  i.  e.  we 
were  baptized  that  we  might  all  become  one  body.  So  then  He  who 
formed  us,  and  that  which  he  formed,  is  one."  But  further  still,  St. 
Paul  insists  on  this  as  having  actually  taken  place,  and  that  no  longer, 
as  when  writing  to  the  Ephesians,  to  a  very  spiritual,  but  to  a  very 
carnal  Church,  "Ye*  are  yet  carnal ;  for  where  there  is  envying  and 
strife  and  divisions,  are  ye  not  carnal,  and  walk  after  the  manner  of 
men  ?"  and  yet  it  was  to  this  carnal  Church,  thus  actually  walking 
after  the  flesh,  and  after  the  manner  of  men,  and  not  after  the  Spirit, 
that  he  says,  "  we  were  all  baptized  into  one  body  in  One  Spirit, 
and  loere  all  made  to  drink  into  One  Spirilf."  He  does  not  denjr 
that  they  had  received  these  gifts,  however  unworthily  of  them  they 
were  now  walking  ;  rather,  he  bids  them  "  stir  up  the  gift  of  God," 
which  they  had  received,  and  "  which  was  in  them  ;"  he  claims 
them  by  what  they  had  received,  and  had  been  made,  however  they 
might  be  in  danger  of  losing  it  (since  "  the|  Holy  Spirit  of  discipline 
will  not  abide,  where  unrighteousness  cometh  in ;  for  wisdom  is  a 
loving  Spirit ;")  he  says  "  in  One  Spirit  were  ye  baptized  into  one 
body,"  ye  were  made  One  body  by  one  indwelling  Spirit,  Which  re- 
generated you,  and  remade  you  into  one  ;  remain  one,  lest  if  ye  cease 
to  be  of  the  same  body,  ye  lose  also  that  Spirit  whereby  ye  were 
made  one.  And  this  body  into  which  they  jiad  all  been  baptized  was 
so  spiritual,  that  he  doubts  not  to  call  it  "  Christ"  Himself;  he  speaks 
of  the  Church,  not  only,  as  elsewhere,  as  "the  body  of  Christ,"  but 
he  substitutes  the  Name  of  "  Christ"  for  the  Church  ;§  not  as  though 

*  1  Cor.  iii.  3.  oi-x}  B'apKiKo'i  iart  Kal  Kara  ai/Spoirov  mpnraTurc,  exactly  the  Oppo- 
site of  St.  Paul's  description  of  a  Christian  walk  (Rom.  viii.  1.)  "there  is  then 
no  condemnation  to  those  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,"  i^h  kotu  aapKu  TrepmaTovaiv 
AXKa  Kara  irvtvua.     Just  what  St.  Paul  3sserts  of  the  one  he  denies  of  the  other. 

f  On  account  of  this  reference  to  a  definite  past  act,  it  seems  probable  that 
these  words  also  refer  to  the  same  act  of  Baptism,  and  not,  as  might  seem  at 
first  sight,  to  the  other  Sacrament.  St.  Chrysostom  gives  both  senses,  but 
thinks  Baptism  rather  referred  to  ;  "  we  come  to  the  same  mystical  consecra- 
tion, we  enjoy  the  same  Table.  And  why  said  he  not,  '  we  are  nourished 
with  the  same  Body,  and  we  drink  the  same  Blood  '''  Because,  naming  the 
Spirit,  he  pointed  to  both,  both  the  Blood  and  the  Flesh,  for  by  both  are  we 
'  given  to  drink  the  same  Spirit.'  But  he  seems  to  me  now  to  speak  of  that 
descent  of  the  Spirit  which  takes  place  within  us  through  Baptism,  and  be- 
fore partaking  of  the  mysteries." 

X  Wisd.  i.  5,  6. 

§  "  '  So  also  is  Christ,'  whereas  he  should  naturally  have  said,  '  so  also  is 
the  Church,'  for  this  it  was,  whicli  followed  on  what  he  said,  he  doth  not  say 


168 

"  Christ"  meant  only  "  the  body  of  Christians  ;"  but,  by  virtue  of  the 
union  of  tlie  members  with  the  Head,  he  speaks  of  them  as  included 
in  the  Head  ;  he  passes  over  the  Church's  visible  existence,  and  con- 
ceives of  it  only  as  in  its  Lord,  in  Whom  it  had  its  life.  How  awfully 
must  he  have  thought  of  the  actualness  of  the  union  of  the  Church 
with  Christ,  who  could  speak  of  her,  only  as  existing  in  her  Lord, 
and  under  the  Name  of  her  Lord,  as  lost  in  Him,  as  in  the  rays  of 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  wherewith  she  was  clothed,*  and  her 
form,  and  substance,  and  character,  altogether  changed  as  the  cold 
black  iron  by  the  heat  which  invisibly  penetrates  it,  and  transforms 
it  into  itself,  so  long  as  it  abides  in  it.  How  greatly  must  he  have 
thought  of  Baptism,  whereby  in  One  Spirit  we  were  all  baptized, 
(bathed,  as  it  were,  in  the  Spirit,)  into  one  body,  which  was  Christ. 
"  Here  also  again,"  says  even  a  modern,!  who  so  far  retained 
faithfully  the  ancient  doctrine,  "  there  is  ascribed  to  Baptism  an  in- 
corporation into  Christ  the  Lord,  and  a  con-corporation  in  that  Christ 
with  all  saints,  and  that  by  the  same  Spirit." 

And  thence  it  follows  at  once,  that  the  gift  of  Baptism  was  to  him 
above  all  other  spiritual  gifts  ;  whence  in  this  Epistle  as  well  as  that 
to  the  Ephesians,  he  can  the  more  strongly  urge  them  to  be  content 
with  whatever  had  been  allotted  to  them,  since  they  had  what  was 
of  all  the  greatest,  they  were  "in  Christ."  It  mattered  not  what 
office  they  had  in  the  body,  whether  they  were  foot,  or  hand,  or  eye ; 
this  was  altogether  secondary  ;  they  were  in  the  Body,  this  was 
their  hope  and  their  glory,  and  this  would,  if  realized,  be  their  crown  ; 
other  gifts  brought  with  them  only  an  additional  burthen  of  responsi- 
bility, and  they  who  had  them  not,  might  well  be  contented  to  forego 
them,  since  they  had  that  which  alone  is  of  ultimate  moment.  "  We:|: 
were  all  new-made  by  One  Spirit,  we  all  enjoyed  the  same  Gift  in 
Baptism,  we  alike  received  remission  of  sins,  we  alike  partake  of 
the  Divine  mysteries.  We  are  become  then  one  body,  though  we 
have  different  members."  "  Well,^  said  he,  '  we  all,'  joining  in  him- 
self also.  For  neither  I,  saith  he,  who  am  an  Apostle,  have  thus  far 
any  thing  above  you.  For  thou  art  the  body  as  I,  and  I  as  you,  and 
we  all  have  the  same  Head,  and  were  born  by  the  same  birth.   Where- 

this,  but  for  the  '  Church'  puts  '  Christ,'  raising  his  speech  on  high,  and  the 
more  shaming  his  hearer.  For  what  he  means  is,  '  so  also  is  the  body  of 
Christ,  which  is  tlie  Church.'  For  as  the  body  and  the  head  are  one  man,  so 
he  said  the  Church  and  Christ  were  one  (f"),  wherefore  he  put  '  Christ'  for 
'the  Cliurch,' so  naming  His  body."  Chrys.  ad  loc.  "He  calls  '  Christ' the 
whole  body  of  the  Church,  since  the  Lord  Christ  is  the  head  of  the  body." 
Theod.  ad  loc.  Contrast  with  this  the  meagreness  of  modern  views — "  The 
name  '  Clirist'  means  the  Society  who  belong  to  Him." — Mr.  Simeon  ad  loc. 

*  "  And  there  appeared  a  great  wonder  in  heaven,  a  woman  clothed  with  the 
sun." — Rev.  xii.  1.  f  De  vi  Bapt.  0pp.  Angl.  i.  p.  597. 

X  Theodoret,  ad  loc.  ^  Chrys.  ad  loc.  Horn.  30.  {  2. 


169 

fore  also  we  are  one  body.  And  why  say  I  the  '  Jews  V  for  He 
hath  brought  the  Greeks,  so  far  removed  from  us,  into  the  frame  of 
one  body.  Wherefore,  havincr  said,  '  we  all,'  he  paused  not  here, 
but  added,  'whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free.'  For  if, 
being  aforetime  so  far  severed,  we  were  united  and  became  one, 
much  more  after  we  have  become  one,  should  we  not  grieve,  or  be 
dejected.  If  then  One  Spirit  formed  us,  and  brought  us  all  into  one 
body,  for  this  is  '  we  were  all  baptized  into  one  body,'  and  gave  us 
one  Table,  and  watered  all  with  the  same  stream,  for  this  is  '  we 
were  made  to  drink  into  One  Spirit,'*  and  made  us  one  who  were  so 
far  separated,  and  the  many  then  become  a  body,  when  they  become 
one,  why  continually  think  on  the  difference  ?"  In  like  way,  S. 
Chrysostome  developes  the  argument  to  the  Ephesians  (iv.  7.,)  "  we 
have  all  the  great  and  chief  things  in  common  ;t  if  then  the  one  has 
more  in  gifts,  grieve  not,  since  his  toil  is  more  also,  and  of  him  who 
had  received  five  talents,  were  five  required,  but  he  who  had  the  two 
brought  only  two,  and  was  no  less  accepted  than  the  other."  And 
to  the  same  end,  S.  Clement  of  Alexandria  combines  these  two  pas- 
sages, to  show  that  "  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,"  but  bestoweth 
His  grace  equally  upon  all  through  holy  Baptism.  "  These  bonds  are 
quickly  loosed,|  through  human  faith,  but  grace  divine  ;  all  sins  being 
forgiven  through  that  one  all-healing  medicine.  Baptism  in  the  Word 
(Aoyuw  paTTT'iafiaTi.)  "We  wash  away  then  all  sins,  and  forthwith  are  no 
longer  evil.  This  is  the  one  grace  of  the  EUghtening,  that  the  cha- 
racter is  not  the  same  as  before.  But  since  true  knowledge  dawneth 
with  that  enlightening,  flashing  around  the  mind,  and  we  before  un- 
disciplined (o'  diAudcis)  ape  now  called  disciples  (/^a^'yai)  is  this  perchance 
when  that  discipline  is  added  ?  You  cannot  say  certainly  ;  for  the 
instruction  leadeth  to  faith  ;  but  faith,  with  Holy  Baptism,  is  disci- 
plined by  the  Spirit.  For  that  the  Faith  is  the  one  universal  salva- 
tion of  mankind,  and  that  there  is  an  equal  participation  of  the  just 
God,  the  lover  of  mankind,  the  Apostle  most  plainly  declared,  (GaL 
iii.  28-25.,)  Hear  ye  not,  that  we  are  no  longer  under  the  law,  which 
had  fear,  but  under  the  Word,  the  Instructor  of  the  will  ?  then  he 
addeth  these  words,  declaring  the  absence  of  all  partiality,  '  For  ye  are 
all  sons,  &c.'  (ib.  26-28.)  so  then  being  in  the  Word  Himself,  it  is 
not  so  that  some  are  endued  with  knowledge,  others  mere  carnal  men 
(ipvxiKoi,)  but  all,  having  put  olEf  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  are  equal  and 
spiritual  with  the  Lord,  as  he  again  writes,  '  For  in  One  Spirit  were 

*S.  Chrys.  explains  this  a  little  before  :  "he  said,  'were  made  to  drink,' 
since  this  metaphor  harmonized  exceedingly  with  his  subject,  as  if  he  were 
speaking  of  a  plants  and  a  garden,  that  the  trees  are  watered  from  the  same 
fountain,  from  the  same  water,  thus  here  also  we  have  all  drunk  the  same 
Spirit,  we  have  all  enjoyed  the  same  grace." 

t  See  above,  ad  loc.  p.  168. 

X  Clem.  Alex.  Paedag,  i.  6.  ed.  Potter,  p.  116. 


170 

we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether 
bond  or  free,  and  have  all  drunk  of  one  cup.' " 

iii.  2.  Indications  of  the  ijnportance  of  BapHsm,  arising  from 
the  mode  in  ivhich  Holy  Scripture  speaks  of  it,  when  conferred  on 
individuals. 

Such  being  the  doctrine  of  Baptism,  as  delivered  by  our  Lord,  and 
involved  in  his  words  of  institution,  and  set  forth  by  the  Apostles, 
when  writing  to  Christian  Churches,  i.  e.  to  those  who  had  been  bap- 
tized into  Christ,  it  is  natural  to  look  for  something  corresponding  in 
the  history  of  the  Apostolic  conversions.  Not,  of  course,  that  we  are 
entitled  to  make  any  requisitions  as  to  what  we  should  find  in  Holy 
Scripture,  and  believe  or  disbelieve,  be  satisfied  or  dissatisfied,  ac- 
cording as  such  requisiiions  are  realized  or  no  ;  but  that  it  certainly 
would  be  in  harmony  with  this  teaching  of  the  Apostolic  Epistles,  if 
we  found  that  the  narrative  of  the  first  founding  of  the  Church,  when 
speaking  of  the  actual  admission  of  converts  to  the  Church,  ascribed 
or  implied  a  high  value  to  attach  to  this  Sacrament.  And  this  is  so. 
And  if  men  would  observe  all  the  indications  in  the  Acts,  they  would 
find  a  stress  laid  upon  Baptism  which  would  surprise  them,  and 
thereby  evince  that  there  was  something  faulty  in  their  previous 
notions. 

And  thus  it  has  been  observed  of  old  ;*  "  In  this  Book  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  whoever  will  search,  may  discover  many  things 
commendatory  of  the  use  of  Baptism  with  water." 

Thus,  Baptism  is  not  urged  upon  the  converts,  as  we  might  sup- 
pose, as  a  proof  of  sincerity,  or  a  test  of  faith,  in  embracing  openly 
the  worship  of  the  Crucified,  and  so  being  prepared,  literally  as  well 
as  in  spirit,  to  "  take  up  the  cross  and  follow  Him,"  but  for  its  own 
benefits,  in  and  for  itself.  Let  any  one  think  what,  according  to  his 
views  of  Christian  truth,  would  have  been  his  answer  to  the  multi- 
tude, who,  "pricked  in  their  hearts,  asked  Peter  and  the  rest.  Men 
and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do?"  I  doubt  that  their  answer  would 
not  have  been,  '^  Repentf  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you,  in  the 
Name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  thereupon  follows  immediately 
that  further  exhortation,  "withf  many  other  words  did  he  testify  and 

*  Didymus  on  Acts  viii.  36.  ap.  Caten.  in  Actt.  ed.  Cramer,  p.  146. 

t  Acts  ii.  38.  Calvin,  according  to  his  views,  is  obliged  to  guard  St.  Peter 
from  misconception,  by  reversing  his  words  and  meaning,  "  Although  Baptism 
here  precedes  remission  of  sin  in  the  order  of  words,  ('he  baptised  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins,')  in  the  order  (of  things)  it  follows,  since  it  is  nothing  else 
than  a  sealing  of  those  good  things,  which  we  obtain  in  Christ,  that  they  may 
be  assured  in  our  consciences  :"  i.  e.  whereas  St.  Peter  directs  the  Jews  to 
repent  and  be  baptized,  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  he,  in  fact,  meant,  "  repent 
and  receive  Baptism,  that  your  consciences  may  be  set  at  ease,  and  that  you 
may  know  that  God  has  forgiven  you  !" 


171 

exhort,  saying,  Save  yourselves  from  this  untoward  generation,"  i.  e. 
save  yourselves  by  the  only  way  in  which  man  could  "  save  him- 
self," by  fleeing  for  refuge  to  Christ's  ark,  which  would  be  the  only 
shelter  when  God  "should  again  bring  in  the  flood  upon  the  world  of 
the  ungodly."*  They  were  to  save  themselves,  as  Noah  and  his 
family  were  saved  from  temporal  death,  by  fleeing  from  out  of  the  un- 
toward generation,"  "  upon  whom  the  flood  came  and  destroyed  them 
all."  And  thus  the  teaching  corresponds  in  form,  as  in  substance,  with 
those  other  words  of  St.  Peter,  the  "  antitype  whereunto.  Baptism, 
doth  now  save  us."  I  cannot  but  think  that  very  many  of  us  would 
have  omitted  all  mention  of  Baptism,  and  insisted  prominently  on 
some  other  portion  of  the  Gospel  message  ;  i.  e.  our  notions  of  the 
relative  value  of  Gospel  Truths  and  Ordinances  differ  from  those  of 
the  inspired  Apostles. 

Such  was  the  first  conversion  ;  and  so,  at  the  very  outset  of  the 
history,  care  is  taken  to  point  out  that  the  disciples  fulfilled  their 
Lord's  command,  that  it  was  by  Baptism  that  they  enlarged  their 
Lord's  Church  :t  that  it  was  by  Baptism  that  men  were  saved. — - 
"  Then|  they  that  gladly  received  his  word  were  baptized,  and  the 
same  day  there  were  added  unto  them  about  three  thousand  souls." 
"Andi^  the  Lord  added  to  the  Church  daily  those  that  were  saved." 
They  were  saved  for  the  time  being,  by  being  "  added  to  the 
Church,"  as  St.  Peter  had  exhorted  them  to  "  save  themselves," 
and  they  were  "  added  to  the  Church"  by  Baptism.  And  this  con- 
tinues to  be  the  marked  character  of  the  Acts  throughout,  so  that 
(with  the  exception  of  Sergius  Paulus)  there  is  not  one  account  of 
any  remarkable  conversion,  in  which  it  is  not  expressly  mentioned 
also,  that  the  individual  so  converted  was  baptized.  Thus,  of  the 
^Ethiopian  eunuch,  whom  Philip  was  sent  to  teach,  it  is  related, 
"  As  they  went  on  their  way,  they  came  to  a  certain  water,  and  the 
eunuch  said.  See,  water;  what  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?"|| 
"In  th  ewilderness  did  water  break  out,  and  streams  in  the  desert  ;"1[ 
and  for  joy  at  the  mercy  thus  placed  within  his  reach,  the  eunuch 
cried  out,  "  See,  water."  "  These  are  words,"  subjoins  St.  Chry- 
sostom,**  ^'  of  a  soul  set  on  fire — '  what  hindereth  me  to  be  baptiz- 
ed V  See  his  longing  !  He  saith  not  '  baptize  me,'  nor  is  he  silent, 
but  he  saith  something  intermediate,  expressing  both  longing  and  reve- 

*  2  Pet.  ii.  5. 

t  After  the  Resurrection,  He  sends  the  Apostles  to  the  Gentiles,  and  com- 
mands them  to  baptize  them  in  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity.  The  people  of  the 
Jews  repent  of  their  deed,  and  forthwith  is  sent  by  Peter  to  Baptism.  Before 
she  travails,  Zion  brings  forth,  and  a  nation  is  born  at  once.  Jer.  Ep.  69.  ad 
Ocean.  5  6. 

t  Acts  ii.  40.  ^  Ver.  47.  I|  Acts  viii.  36. 

T[  Is.  XXXV.  6.  "  Arise,  and  go  towards  the  south — which  is  desert,"  Acts 
viii.  26. 

**  Ad  loc.  Horn.  xJx.  in  Actt.  ^  2. 


172 

rence  ;  '  what  hindereth  me  to  be  baptized  V  See  how  well  he  appre- 
hended tlie  doctrines  ;  for  the  prophet  contained  all, — the  Incarna- 
tion, til ;  Passion,  the  Resurrection,  the  Ascension,  the  future  Judg- 
ment, which  things  especially  infused  into  him  an  exceeding  longing. 
Be  ye  .-ishamed,  whosoever  of  you  are  unenlightened,"  [unbaptized.] 
And,  ill  like  way,  St.  Basil;*  "for  when  they  met  with  water, 
'behok','  he  saith  *  water  ;' — words  arising  from  exceeding  joy;  see 
here  wuat  I  looked  for,  what  hinders  me  to  be  baptized  ?" 

The  sixteenth  chapter  contains  the  history  of  two  remarkable  con- 
versions ;  that  of  "  Lydia,  whose  heart  the  Lord  opened,"  and  of 
the  jailor  of  Philippi ;  they  are  striking  instances  of  the  grace  of 
God  ;  :ind  it  is  right  that  we  should  have  them  in  remembrance,  as 
such  ;  iiid  how,  of  all  the  converts  at  Philippi,  whose  hearts  He 
opened,  Ho  has  singled  out  for  record  a  foreign  purple-seller,t  and  a 
jailor.  Yet,  without  doubt,  to  correct  our  narrow  views  of  His  deal- 
ings, and  lest  we  should,  in  these  His  extraordinary  works,  forget  or 
despise  His  ordinary  gifts,  (as  we  do  continually  forget  the  daily  mir- 
acles o!  His  Providence,  looking  out  for  things  which  are  extra-ordi- 
nary, i.  0.  out  of  that  course  which  He  has  ordered  as  being  usually 
the  mo-t  fitting,:}:)  to  correct  this  habit  of  mind,  He  has  had  it  record- 
ed, tha:  neither  conversion  completed  His  purpose  of  mercy  towards 
those  Avhose  hearts  He  opened  and  turned.  Neither  that  con- 
version, which  he  wrought  by  the  more  powerful  influences  of  His 
inward  grace,  nor  that  which  was  a  fruit  of  His  outward  miracles, 
the  earUiquake  which  shook  the  foundations  of  the  prison,  or  the 
loosing  of  the  prisoners'  bands,  was  in  itself  perfect.  They  were 
but  tile  preparations  for  the  gift  which  was  to  follow  ;  "  The  Lord 
was  not  in  the  earthquake  ;"  it  but  announced  his  coming.  And  so 
Lydia  regarded  the  first  act  of  His  grace  as  preparatory  only,  she 
thouglit  not  herself  worthy  to  receive  even  the  servants  of  the  Most 
High  ( fod,  until  "  she  and  her  household"  had,  by  Baptism,  been 
made  "  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  "  And,  when  she  was  baptized 
and  her  household,  she  besought  us,  saying,  '  If  ye  have  judged  me 

*  Horn,  in  S.  Bapt.  \  6.  T.  2.  p.  119.  ed.  Ben. 

t  "  Lylia,  of  the  city  of  Thyatira,"  ver.  14  ;  the  other  converts  are  only  in- 
cidental: y  mentioned,  ver.  40.  "  when  they  had  seen  the  brethren." 

I  "  TliR  sources  of  bread  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord.  No  marvel.  For 
He  of  five  loaves  formed  much  bread  to  satisfy  so  many  thousands,  who  daily 
of  a  few  o-rains  forms  in  the  earth  vast  harvests.  For  these  ai-e  the  miracles 
of  the  Lord;  only  from  their  continualness  they  are  little  esteemed."  Aug. 
inPs.  M  .  Serm.  2.  5  6.  "  He  reservethto  fit  seasons  unusual  miracles,  which 
the  mind  of  man,  intent  on  novelty,  may  remember,  whereas  His  daily  miracles 
are  grenrer.  He  createth  so  many  trees  throughout  the  whole  earth,  and  no 
one  mar  .els ;  with  a  word  He  dried  up  one,  and  the  hearts  of  men  were  as- 
tonished."— Id.  in  Ps.  ex.  ^  6. 


173 

faithful  to  the  Lord,  come  into  my  house,  and  abide  there.'  "    "  See," 
says  St.  Chrysostome,*  "  how  she  persuaded  all  [her  family.]    Then 
observe  her  prudence,  how  she  constrains  the  Apostles,  what  humi- 
lity in  her  words,  what  wisdom  !     '  If  ye  have  judged  me,'  slie  says, 
'  faithful  to  the  Lord.'     Nothing  could  be  more  moving ;  see    how 
immediately  she  bears  fruit,  and  thinks  her  calling  a  great  gain.    But 
that  ye   have  judged  me  faithful,  is  manifest  from  your  haMng  en- 
trusted me  with  so  great  mysteries,  wherewith  ye  had  not  ei  trusted 
me,  unless  ye  had  judged  me  such.     And  before  this  she  ventured 
not  to  invite  them,  but  '  when  she  was  baptized  ;'  showing  thereby 
that  she  should  not  otherwise  have  persuaded  them."     "  Lo,t  she  ia 
baptized,   and  receives  the  Apostles  with   so  much   entreaty,  with 
more  than  Abraham  used.     She  appeals  to  no  other  evidence  than 
that  whereby  she  had  been  saved  ;  she  saith  not,  '  if  ye  have  judged 
me  great,'  if  '  devout,'  but   '  faithful  to  the  Lord  ;'  if  to  tho  Lord, 
how  much  more  to  you  !"     So  again,  with  regard  to  the  jailor,   in 
answer  to  his  anxious  question,  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  ?"  St. 
Paul  says,  "  Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus   Christ,  and  thou    shalt  be 
saved,  and  thy  whole  house  ;"  but  a  part  of  that  belief  was  Lis  Bap- 
tism, without  which  his  belief  had  been  dead,  for  it  follows,  "  And 
he  took  them  the  same  hour  of  the  night,  and  washed  their  stripes  ; 
and  was  baptized,  he  and  all  his,  straightivay .''''     St.  Paulpr  mised, 
that  if  he  would  believe,  "  he  and  all  his  should  be  saved  ;"  "  they 
spake  the  word  of  the  Lord  unto  him,  and  to  all  that  were  in  his 
house ;"  and  then,  "he  and  all  his  were  baptized  straightway."  Baptism 
then,  as  appears  from  the  very  tenor  of  the  narrative,  w^as  the  end  of 
"the  speaking  the  word  of  the  Lord;"  it  was  part  of  "belief,"  it  was  the 
means  of  "  salvation."   "  He  washed  them,"  says  St.  Chrysostome,^ 
"  and  was  washed  ;  them  he  washed  from  their  stripes,  himself  was 
washed  from  sins  ;  he  nourished  them,  and  was  nourished ;   '  and  he 
rejoiced,'  it  is  said  ;  and  yet  there  had  been  nothing  but  words  and 
fair  hopes.     This  was  a  proof  that  he  believed  that  all  had  been  for 
given  him."     "  It  was  of  necessity,"  says  another, §   inculcating  the 
duty  of  previous  instruction,  "that  Baptism   followed  immediately 
then   upon   instruction  ;  this  must  needs  be,  lest  he  who  had  the 
power  of  baptizing  being  expelled,  the  other,  though  wishing,  should 
remain  excluded  from  life,  there  being  no  one  to  bestow  this." 

The  same  is  the  character,  and  in  part  more  conspicuously  so, 
in  those  other  prominent  narratives,!  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul  him^ 

*  Ad  loc.  Horn.  35.  in  Actt.  iiiit.  f  lb.  ^  1  fin. 

t  Horn.  36.  in  Actt.  \  2. 

\  Ammonius  in  Cramer's  Catena,  ad  loc. 

II  Besides  these,  on  the  conversion  of  "  Crispus,  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue," 
at  Corinth,  "  with  his  whole  house,"  "  many  of  the  Corinthians,"  it  is  added, 
"  hearing,  believed,  and  were  baptized." 


174 

self,  and  of  Cornelius,  or  the  Baptism  of  the  disciples  who  had  re- 
ceived John's  Baptism  only ;  nor  in  the  remaining  remarkable  in- 
stance, the  Baptism  of  Simon  Magus,  will  his  perverseness  be 
found  to  involve  any  disparagement  of  Baptism.  These  instances 
may  be  treated  of  separately,  on  account  as  well  of  the  intrinsic  im- 
portance of  the  narrations,  as  of  the  questions  which  have  been  raised 
upon  some  of  them. 

iii.  2.  a.  Baptism  cf  St.  Paul. 

It  is  commonly  thought  that  he,  having  been  miraculously  con- 
verted, was  regenerated,  justified  by  faith,  pardoned,  had  received 
the  Holy  Ghost,  before  he  was  baptized.  Not  so,  however.  Holy 
Scripture,  if  we  consider  it  attentively  :  before  his  Baptism  he  ap- 
pears neither  to  have  been  pardoned,  regenerated,  justified,  nor  en- 
lightened. Our  Lord  had  checked  him  at  once  in  his  course  ; 
shown  him  that  in  persecuting  His  members  upon  earth,  he  was  per- 
secuting their  ascended  Lord  and  their  God  ;  in  soul  as  well  as 
body,  he  was  cast  down  to  the  earth  ;  and,  humbled,  asked,  "  Lord, 
what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  But  our  Lord  tells  him  not:  He 
raises  him  not  up  at  once  ;  He  neither  immediately  pronounces  his 
forgiveness,  nor  teaches  him  how  it  may  be  obtained,  but  informs 
him  solely  that  He  has  a  work  for  him  to  perform,  that  he  is  now 
simply  to  obey,  and  what  he  is  to  do  he  shall  know  hereafter.  Thus 
He  sends  Him,  his  bodily  blindness  an  emblem  of  that  of  his  mind, 
to  tarry  the  Lord's  leisure.  (Acts  ix.  6  ;  xxii.  10.)  What  took  place 
during  those  three  days  and  nights  of  bodily  and  mental  darkness, 
during  which,  doubtless,  in  intense  anxiety,  (through  which  he  "  did 
neither  eat  nor  drink,"  "  his  heart  was  smitten,  so  that  he  forgot  to 
eat  his  bread,"*)  with  one  only  cheering  look  into  the  future,!  he 
reviewed  the  course  of  his  past  life,  God's  guidance,  and  his  own 
wilfulness,  we  are  not  told  ;  nor  how  this  probation  of  acute  suffer- 
ing was  necessary  for  the  framing  of  this  "  chosen  vessel :"  but  it  is 
at  least  implied  that,  as  yet,  in  answer  to  his  prayers,  there  had  been 
conveyed  only  a  general  intimation  of  God's  good  intentions  toward 
him,  of  His  purpose  to  remove  the  outward  sign  of  His  displeasure  : 
"  Behold,  he  prayeth,  and  hath  seen,  in  a  vision,  a  man  named  Ana- 
nias, coming  and  putting  his  hand  upon  him,  that  he  might  receive 
his  sight."  But  as  yet  neither  were  his  sins  forgiven,  nor  had  he 
received  the  Holy  Ghost ;  much  less  then  was  he  born  again  of  the 
Spirit,  before  it  was  conveyed  to  him  through  his  Saviour's  Sacrament. 
"  And  now,  wh}'  tarriest  thou  ?"  says  Ananias  ;  "  arise,  and  be  bap- 
tized, and  wash  away  thy  sins."|(Acts  xxii.  16.)  "  The  Lord  Jesus, 

*Ps.  cii.  4. 

t  See  Note  (I)  at  the  end. 

J  Calvin,  according  to  his  view  of  sacraments,  could  not  but  paraphrase 
this — "  That  you  may  be  assured,  Paul,  that  your  sins  are  remitted,  be  bap- 
tized.    For  the  Lord  promises  remission  of  sins  in  baptism ;  receive  it,  and 


175 

that  appeared  imlo  thee  in  the  way,  as  thou  earnest,  hath  sent  me, 
that  thou  mightest  receive  thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost."  And  this  was  done;  for  "  there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had 
been  scales,  and  he  received  sight  forthwith,  arose,  and  was  bap- 
tized." The  account  of  the  fulfilment  is  obviously  commensurate 
with  the  promise.  As  then  by  the  falling  of  the  scales,  his  outward 
darkness  was  removed,  and  he  received  sight ;  so  by  baptism  was 
the  inward,  and  he  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  if  even  to 
St.  Paul,  for  whose  conversion  our  Saviour  Himself  vouchsafed 
again  to  become  visible  to  human  sight,  regeneration  and  the  other 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  were  not  imparted  wtthout  the  appointed 
Sacrament  of  grace,  why  should  this  be  expected  or  looked  for  by 
others  ? 

This  view  of  St.  Paul's  case,  which  was  the  result  of  the  ex  - 
nation  of  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture  in  their  plain  meaning,  it  is 
very  satisfactory  to  find  altogether  anticipated  by  St.  Chrysostome.* 
•"  We  cannot,  cannot,  entertain  grace  without  vigilance.  Not  even 
upon  Paul  did  grace  come  immediately  ;  but  three  days  intervened, 
in  which  he  was  blind,  being  purified  and  prepared  for  its  reception, 
by  fear.  For  as  the  purple-dyers  first  prepare,  by  other  means,  that 
which  is  to  receive  the  dye,  that  its  richness  may  not  fade  :  thus, 
here  also,  God  first  prepares  the  soul,  by  filling  it  with  trouble,  and 
then  pours  forth  His  grace  ;"  and  again, f  "  Why  did  he  neither  eat 
nor  drink?  he  was  condemning  himself  for  what  he  had  done  ;  he 
was  confessing  all ;  he  was  praying ;  he  was  calling  upon  God  ;"J 
and  "  Ananias  taught  him  nothing,  but  only  baptized  him.  But,  as 
soon  as  he  was  baptized,  he  drew  down  on  himself  a  great  grace  from 
the  Spirit,  through  his  zeal  and  great  earnestness." — And  "  why  did 
not  God  blind  his  eyes  themselves  ?  this  was  much  more  w^onderful. 
They  were  open,  but  he  saw  not ;  ivhich  also  had  happened  unto 
him,  as  to  the  law,  until  the  name  of  Jesus  was putupon  him  (i.  e.  until 
he  was  baptized.)  '  And  having  taken  meat,  he  was  strengthened  :' 
he  had  been  exhausted,  then,  by  the  journey,  his  terror,  hunger,  and 
despondency.  God  then  wishing  to  increase  his  despondency,  al- 
lowed him  to  remain  blind  till  Ananias  came." 

In  hke  manner  St.  Augustine  ;^  "  Beware  we  of  those  most  proud 
and  most  dangerous  temptations,"  [looking  for  immediate  revelations 

be  assured."  And  this  is  in  answer  to  the  objection,  "  Wliy  did  Ananias  tell 
Paul  to  wash  away  his  sins  by  baptism,  if  sins  are  not  washed  away  by  virtue 
of  baptism  ?"  Instit.  iv.  15,  de  Baptismo,  5 15.  Such  an  answer  will  scarcely 
satisfy  any  one.  Contrast  this  with  Bucer's  simple  inference,  "  In  these  words, 
then,  there  is  ascribed  to  baptism  the  effect  of  remitting  or  washing  away  of 
sins." 

•  Horn.  1.  in  Actt.  5  6.  T.  9.  p.  10.  ed.  Bened. 

t  Horn.  19.  on  Acts  ix.  9.  p.  157.  |  Horn.  20.  init. 

^  De  Doct.  Christian.  Prolog.  5  6. 


176 

of  God,  independently  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,]  "  and  let  us 
rather  think  that  the  Apostle  Paul  himself,  although  cast  to  the  earth, 
and  instructed  by  a  Divine  and  Heavenly  voice,  w^as  yet  sent  to  a 
man  that  he  might  receive  the  Sacraments,  and  be  united  to  the 
Church."  And  Tertulhan,*  "  Then  Paul  also,  when  he  believed, 
was  baptized.  And  this  it  was,  which  the  Lord  had  enjoined  him 
saying,  '  Arise  and  enter  into  Damascus  ;  there  it  shall  be  shown  thee 
what  thou  oughtest  to  do  ;'  namely,  to  be  baptized,  which  alone  was 
wanting  to  him.  For  he  had  suificiently  learned  and  believed  that 
the  Nazarene  was  the  Lord,  the  Son  of  God."  And  anotherf  infers, 
"  Then  not  all  baptism,  but  only  that  into  the  Lord  Jesus  effects  the 
cleansing  away  of  sin." 

iii.  2.  b.  Baptisin  of  Cornelius, 

The  case  of  CorneUus  is  very  remarkable,  as  indeed  one  should 
expect  the  calling  of  the  father  of  the  Gentile  Church  to  liave  in  it 
somelhing  peculiar,  as  well  as  that  of  the  father  of  the  first  people  of 
God.  Two  different  points  in  his  history  have  accordingly  been 
seized  upon,  and  made  the  Scriptural  basis  of  distinct  theories  :  his 
previous  holiness — of  the  school-notion  of  grace  of  congruity — the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  previous  to  his  Baptism — of  the  separa- 
tion of  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament  from  the  ordinance. |  Each  rests 
(upon  a  two-fold  false  assumption  l,)that  the  works  done  by  Cornelius 
were  done  in  his  own  strength,  "before"  and  independently  of  "  the 
inspiration  of  Gods's  Holy  Spirit,"  (Art.  13;)  since  otherwise  there 
were  no  question,  on  the  part  of  the  Schoolmen,  of  "grace  of  con- 
gruity ;"  for  as  the  prayers,  the  almsgivmg,  the  fasting  of  Cornelius 
were  the  fruit  of  faith  in  God,  and  of  the  guidance  of  His  Spirit,  the 
imparting  "  of  grace  after  grace,"  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question 
of  human  fitness.  It  is  but  God's  ordinary  method  of  dealing  with 
us,  to  proportion  His  subsequent  gifts  to  the  use  which  we  have  made 
of  those  before  bestowed.  "  Take  from  him  the  pound  and  give  it 
unto  him  who  hath  ten  pounds.  And  they  said  unto  him.  Lord  !  he 
hath  ten  pounds.  For  I  say  unto  you,  that  unto  every  one  who  hath 
shall  be  given."  (Luke  xix.  24,  25.)  "  Unto  you  who  have,  there 
shall  be  added  ;  for  he  who  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given."  (Mark  iv. 
24,  25.)     On  the  other  hand,  Cornelius  was  not  then  first  sanctified, 

*  De  Baptismo,  c.  13. 

t  Ammonius  in  Cramer's  Catena  ad  Actt.  xxii.  16. 

j  P.  Martyr  ad  Rom.  vi.  "Nor  are  regeneration  and  renovation  offered  to 
us  in  Baptism,  as  though  we  had  them  not  in  any  wise  before.  For  it  cannot 
be  denied,  that  adult  believers  have  justification  also,  before  they  are  bap- 
tized." In  proof  whereof,  he  instances  Abraham  (Rom.  iv.)  and  Cornelius> 
as,  indeed,  the  case  of  Cornelius  is  brought  forward  by  every  one  of  this 
school,  who  whould  make  the  Sacraments  into  outward  ordinances) ;  and  he 
himself  hence  infers,  that  by  Baptism  we  are  visibly  (and  only  visibly)  en- 
grafted into  the  Church. 


177 

when  "the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all  them  which  heard  the  word,"  but 
when  he  before  time  "  feared  God  with  all  his  house,  gave  much  alms 
to  the  people,  and  prayed  to  God  alway."  For  through  Him  alone 
could  he  have  prayed  acceptably.  He  alone  putteth  the  spirit  of 
holy  fear  into  man's  heart.  He  was,  then,  as  a  Heathen,  sanctified ; 
but  because  the  sanctification  of  a  Heathen  who  feared  God,  fell  far 
short  of  the  holiness  following  upon  the  Christian  birth,  God,  by  a 
succession  of  visions,  prepared  the  Centurion  to  "hear  all  the  things 
commanded  of  God,"  and  the  Apostle  to  preach  them  :  and  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Heathen  world  was  one,  whom  God  had  already,  in  a 
high  measure,  hallowed,  that  the  pre-eminence  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  might  be  the  more  manifest,  in  that  it  was  one  universal 
kingdom,  wherein  all  should  receive  remission  of  sins  through  the 
Blood  of  Christ,  wherein  not  "  the  publicans  and  harlots"  only  might 
be  cleansed  and  purified,  but  also  "  those  who  feared  God  and  worked 
righteousness"  might  find  their  "  acceptance."  Cornelius  was  al- 
ready, in  a  measure,  sanctified  ;  and  therefore  God,  who  limiteth  not 
His  blessed  workings,  either  to  one  nation,  or  to  one  kind  of  moral 
disposition  or  of  moral  evil,  but  absorbs  all  the  countless  varieties  of 
things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth,  animateth  them  all,  and  fashion- 
€th  them  "  according  to  the  working,  whereby  He  is  able  to  subdue 
all  things  unto  Himself;"  so  He  received  into  His  universal  kingdom 
all,  rich  or  poor,  learned  or  unlearned,  wise  or  foolish,  obedient  or 
disobedient,  whoever  would  now  hear  His  voice  and  follow  Him. 
And  though  His  Gospel  was,  and  is  still,  principally  received  in  its 
fulness  and  its  simphcity  by  "  the  foolish,  and  the  weak,  and  the 
base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised,"  yet  has  it 
shown  its  power  in  giving  the  true  wisdom,  and  might,  and  nobleness 
to  those  who,  in  man's  school,  were  already  "  wise,  and  mighty,  and 
noble  ;"  and  as  the  first  Jewish  disciples  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world 
were  those  who  already  followed  the  austere  and  self-denying  Baptist, 
— the  virgin  St.  John,  and  St.  Andrew, — so  was  the  first  convert 
from  the  Gentiles  one,  who,  in  prayer,  in  alms-giving,  in  subduing 
of  the  flesh,  had  already  made  some  progress  ;  that  so  all  might  see, 
that  neither  the  abyss  of  sin  was  too  deep  for  God's  arm  to  rescue 
thence  the  foulest  sinner,  nor  any  holiness,  which  even  He  had  im- 
parted, suflSced  to  admit  to  the  glories  of  His  kingdom,  without  the 
"  birth  of  water  and  the  Spirit."  Cornelius  was  already,  in  a  mea- 
sure sanctified  ;  and  therefore  He,  who  "  giveth  more  grace,"  trans- 
lated him  into  the  kingdom  of  His  dear  Son,  chose  him  first  of  the 
Gentile  world  to  be  a  member  of  Christ,  re-generated  him  and  then 
sanctified  him  wholly  ;  that  "  all  who  glory,  might"  henceforth  "glory 
in  the  Lord."  Cornehus  had  faith  (for  "  without  faith,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  please  God  ;")  he  had  love  ;  he  had  self-denial ;  he  had  had 
the  power  to  pray  given  to  him ;  but  he  had  not  Christian  faith, 
nor  love,  nor  self-denial,  nor  prayer ;  for  as  yet  he  knew  not  Christ : 

6* 


178 

he  could  not  call  God  Father,  for  as  yet,  he  knew  not  the  Son.  Faith 
and  repentance,  in  adults,  are  necessary  to  the  new  birth,  but  they 
are  not  the  new  birth.  That,  God  imparteth  as  it  pleaseth  Him, 
according  to  the  depths  of  His  wisdom  ;  it  dependeth  not,  as  faith 
and  repentance,  in  some  measure,  may,  upon  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God,  who  calleth  into  His  Church  whom  He  will. 

St.  Augustine  simply  and  strikingly  expresses  this  view :  "  We 
onght  not,"  he  says,*  "to  disparage  the  righteousness  of  a  man, 
which  began  before  he  was  joined  to  the  Church,  as  the  righteousness 
of  Cornelius  had  begun  before  he  was  one  of  the  Christian  people ; 
which,  had  it  been  disapproved  of,  the  angel  had  not  said,  '  Thy  alms 
are  accepted,'  &c.;  nor,  if  it  had  sufficed  to  obtain  the  Mngdom  of 
Heaven,  had  he  been  admonished  to  send  to  Peter  :"  and  in  the  very 
passage!  generally  alleged  to  disparage  what  are  called  "  outward 
ordinances,"  "  Thus,  in  Cornelius,  there  preceded  a  spiritual  sanc- 
tification  in  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  Sacrament  of  regen- 
eration was  added  in  the  washing  of  Baptism."  For  St.  Augustine 
does  not  look  upon  Baptism  as  an  outward  sign  even  to  Cornelius, 
or  to  be  received  only  as  an  act  of  obedience.  For,  having  instanced 
the  pardoned  thief,  as  a  case  wherein  Baptism  had,  from  necessity, 
been  dispensed  with,  he  adds,^  "  much  more  in  Cornelius  and  his 
friends  might  it  seem  superfluous,  that  they  should  be  bedewed  with 
water,  in  whom  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  (which  Holy  Scripture 
testifies,  that  no  others  received,  unless  baptized,)  had  appeared  con- 
spicuously by  that  sure  token  (in  conformity  with  that  period,)  viz., 
that  they  spake  with  tongues.  Yet  they  were  baptized,  and  in  this 
event  we  have  apostolic  sanction  for  the  like.  So  surely  ought  no 
one,  in  whatever  advanced  state  of  the  inner  man,  (yea,  if  haply,  be- 
fore Baptism,  he  should  have  advanced  through  a  pious  heart  to  a 
spiritual  understanding,)  to  despise  the  Sacrament  which  is  adminis- 
tered in  the  body  by  the  work  of  the  ministers,  but  thereby  God  spir- 
itually operates  the  consecration  of  the  man ;"  and^  "  this  man's 
accepted  alms  had,  in  a  degree,  cleansed  him,  it  remained  that  he, 
as  *  clean  food'  should,  be  incorporated  into  the  Church,  i.  e.  into  the 
body  of  the  Lord." 

But  then,  secondly,  the  case  of  Cornelius  does  indeed  commend 
the  greatness  of  Baptism,  while  that  which  is  peculiar  to  itself  fur- 
nishes no  ground  of  argument  as  to  God's  ordinary  dealings  with  His 
Church.  For  whereas  the  school  of  Calvin  would  infer  that  because 
God  once  anticipated  His  Sacrament  by  the  outpouring  of  His  Spirit, 
therefore  (as  they  speak)  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament  is  not  in  such 
wise  "  tied  to  the  Sacrament,"  but  that  He  bestows  it  then,  or  before, 

*  De  T5apt.  c  Donat.  L.  4.  \  28. 

I  De  Bapt.  c.  Donat.  L.  4.  j  31.  J  lb.  {29. 

\  Serm.  149.  [al.  de  Diversis,  24]  J  7. 


179 

or  afterwards,  just  as  He  wills,  and,  (as  they  would  imply,)  as  fre- 
quently, long  afterwards  and  independently  of  the  Sacrament,  as 
through  it, — they  themselves,  when  arguing  against  those  who  dis- 
paraged it  more  deeply  than  themselves,  have  seen  the  error  of  gen- 
eralizing upon  this  single  case.*  Yet  it  is  not  simply  as  being  a  single 
case,  that  it  may  not  be  drawn  into  a  precedent ;  but  that  it  was,  of 
its  very  nature,  an  insulated  case.  It  was  a  miracle  wrought  for  a 
specific  end,  an  end  accomplished  once  for  all,  and  consequently  no 
more  to  be  again  expected  than  that,  to  which  it  corresponded,  the 
visible  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  the 
visible  dwelling  of  the  fiery  tongues  upon  the  Apostles,  And  they 
who  would  claim  it  as  a  precedent  for  the  Christian  gift  of  the  Spirit 
independently  of  Baptism,  must,  if  they  follow  Scripture,  support 
that  claim  by  the  same  evidence  which  was  then  given,  the  gilt  of 
tongues,  which  attested  His  Presence.  But  now  they  neither  pre- 
tend to  show  any  occasion  for  such  departure  from  God's  ordinary 
rules,  nor  adduce  any  evidence  that  he  does  so  depart  from  them ; 
but  simply  infer  that  what  He  did  once.  He  may  do  again,  and  that 
what  He  may  do  again,  He  does  continually  again ;  and  yet  they 
cannot  withal  show,  that  He  does  the  same,  or  rather  more  commonly 
they  argue  from  this  instance,  that  He  does  the  reverse  ;  and  whereas 
He  once  poured  out  the  Spirit  upon  the  first  fruits  of  the  Gentiles 
before  their  Baptism,  they  would  infer  that,  therefore  He  may  and 
So  does  now,  bestow  regeneration,  not  before,  but  long  after  Baptism, 
upon  the  majority  of  such  Christians,  as  according  to  them,  are  ever 
regenerated  at  all.  In  a  word,  the  only  inference  which  they  draw 
from  the  case  is,  that  God  did  once  separate  His  Grace  from  His 
Sacrament,  and  bestowed  it  upon  preaching,!  and  so  that  He  does 

*  Calvin  does  so  against  Servetus.  Servetus  had  objected  to  Infant  Bap- 
tism, that  "  Cornelius  was  baptized  after  he  had  received  the  Holy  Spirit." 
Calvin  answers  rightly,  "  how  wrongly  he  dravi^s  a  general  rule  from  one  in- 
stance, appears  from  the  Eunuch  and  the  Samaritans,  in  whom  God  observed 
a  different  order,  so  that  Baptism  preceded  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit."  (Inst.  4. 
16,31.  Arg.  14.)  yet  having  asserted  that  "  Cornelius  was  baptized,  having 
had  remission  of  sins,  and  the  visible  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  already  before 
this,  bestowed  upon  him,  not  looking  for  a  fuller  remission  from  Baptism,  but 
a  more  certain  exercise  of  faith,  yea,  an  increase  of  confidence  from  that 
pledge  ;"  he  gives  this  as  a  proof  of  his  position,  that  Baptism  is,  in  no  case, 
"  for  remission  of  sins,"  but  for  confirmation  only.  Peter  Martyr  argues  in 
like  way  from  the  case  of  Cornelius  to  that  of  any  adult  heathen  convert,  or 
elect  infant,  that  Baptism  is  only  the  outward  attestation  of  what  had  been  be- 
fore bestowed. — Loci,  4.  8.  17. 

t  "  There  is  here  set  forth  an  image  of  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  For  as  by  the  preaching  of  Peter,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  as  to  the  gift  of  speaking  with  tongues  and  prophesying,  fell  up- 
on Cornelius  and  those  assembled  with  him,  so,  as  to  the  gift  of  faith,  charity, 
and  hope,  does  He,  through  the  preaching  of  any  pastor  of  the  Church,  preach- 
ing Christ,  fall  upon  the  hearts  of  any  of  the  elect  who  hear  the  discourse." — 
Piscator,  ad  loo. 


180 

so  now  ;  every  other  part  of  the  history  they  discard.  But  whereas 
what  is  pecuhar  to  this  history,  does  not,  in  that  it  is  pecuHar,  coun- 
tenance our  separating  the  gifts  from  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  end,  for  which  it  tooii  place,  greatly  exalts  its 
necessity.  For  it  was  a  miracle,  or  rather  there  were  a  series  of  visions 
and  miracles  wrought  for  this  one  end,  to  obtain  Baptism  for  the  first 
Gentile  convert,  and  in  him  for  the  Gentile  Church. 

The  miraculous  imparting  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whereby  they  (not 
Cornelius  only),"  spake  with  tongues,  and  magnified  God,"  does  not 
appear  (one  must  speak  reverentially,  but  still  it  does  not  appear)  to 
have  been  imparled  for  the  sake  of  Cornelius,  but  of  the  Church  ;  or 
rather  for  Cornelius'  and  all  our  sakes,  that  it  might  hence  be  testified 
that  from  that  time  there  was  in  Him  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  but 
that  the  "  kingdom  of  Heaven  was  opsned  to  all  believers."  And 
so  the  Gentile  Church,  in  the  house  of  Cornelius,  was  inaugurated 
in  the  same  solemn  way  wherein  the  Apostles  themselves  had  "  re- 
ceived the  promise  of  the  Father  ;"  and  it  was  signified,  that  "  to  the 
Gentiles  also  was  given  repentance  unto  life,"  that  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, also,  and  through  the  Gentiles,  in  every  speech,  and  nation,  and 
language,  men  "  should  magnify  God."  And  since  the  visible  de- 
scent of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  speaking  with  tongues  and  magni- 
fying God,  had,  for  its  immediate  object,  to  convince  St.  Peter,  and 
the  rest  of  the  Apostles,  that  "no  man  should  forbid  water,  that 
these  should  not  be  baptized,  which  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  well  as  we  ;"  what  are  we,  that  we  should  venture,  on  that  ground, 
to  disparage  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  when  conferred  upon  our- 
selves or  our  children,  since  it  was  our  very  admittance  to  Baptism, 
and  the  formation  of  our  Gentile  Church  thereby,  which  God  chose 
in  this  way  to  secure  ?  He  Himself  once  visibly  consecrated  the 
first  fruits,  that  it  might  be  apparent  that  thenceforth  the  lump  also 
might  be  hallowed  and  presented  vmto  Him  ;  He  sanctified  the  root 
that  thenceforth  the  branches  being  grafted  in,  might  be  holy.  In 
one  sense,  then,  we  were  all  consecrated  in  Cornelius ;  but  since,  in 
order  to  partake  of  Christ,  we  must  be  all  severally  made  members 
of  Him,  the  very  end  of  his  extraordinary  consecration  was  to  obtain 
for  us  admission  to  that  Sacrament,  wherel>y  we  are  so  made.  Since 
also  the  end  is  greater  than  the  means.  Baptism  is  so  much  the  more 
extolled,  in  that  it  was  the  end  of  so  many  miracles  ;  and  the  daily 
miracle  which  He  workethin  the  Baptismal  fountain  of  our  Christian 
Church  receives  the  more  glory,  in  that  the  first  opening  of  that 
"  fountain  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness"  was  so  solemnized  ;  and  the 
daily  gift  "  of  the  new-birth  of  vv^ater  and  the  Spirit"  in  our  Gentile 
Church  is  greater  than  that  miraculous  shedding  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  ushered  it  in,  and  secured  it  to  us. 

It  is  then  a  question  of  no  moment,  and  one  which  we  are  not 
perhaps  qualified  to  determine,  whether  the  miraculous  gift  of  the 


181 

Holy  Ghost  to  Cornelius  and  his  friends  conveyed  to  them  the  com- 
plete gift  of  the  new-birth,  so  that  their  Baptism,  as  has  been  said, 
was  for  the  body  only,*  to  confer  on  that  a  principle  of  immortality. 
The  language  of  Scripture  is  undecided  ;  on  the  one  hand,  since  it 
is  inferred  from  this  miracle,  wrought  to  justify  their  admission  to 
Baptism,  "  thent  hath  God  to  the  Gentiles  also  granted  repentance 
unto  life,"  it  might  be  thought  that  to  them  also  Baptism  was  given 
"for  remission  of  sins  ;"  on  the  other,  it  has  been  inferred,  that  where 
Scripture  says,  that  "  God  had  purified  their  hearts  by  faith"|  it 
meant,  that  in  their  case  also,  as  well  as  that  of  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  a  simple  faith  had  been  accepted  by  God,  and  that  He  there- 
upon "purified  their  hearts"  by  the  direct,  unmediated,  gift  of  the 
Spirit.  And,  as  the  language  of  Holy  Scripture  is  doubtful,  so  nei- 
ther do  we  know  enough  of  the  mode  of  the  Presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  be  able  to  say,  whether  His  descent  with  these  miraculous 
gifts  involved  also  His  sanctifying  Presence  ;  or,  whether  again,  that  - 
sanctifying  Presence  did  in  their  case  involve  the  gift  of  adoption  in 
Christ.  But  since  a  distinction  was  so  far  made  between  them  and 
the  Apostles,  (however  like  their  history  as  to  the  miraculous  gift  of 
the  Spirit,)  that  the  Apostles  were  after  our  Lord's  ascension  only 
"  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,"  but  in  the  case  of 
these,  the  Baptism  of  water  was  added,  it  seems  probable  that  Bap- 
tism conferred  its  share  of  benefit  also,  and  made  them  partakers  of 
the  adoption  as  sons  of  God  in  Christ,  making  them  members  of 
Him,  and  of  His  one  body.  This  question,  however,  is  wholly 
secondary ;  the  great  teaching  of  the  whole  history  is  drawn 
out  for  us  by  Holy  Scripture,  "Can  any  man  forbid  water 
that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  who  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost, 
even  as  we  ?     And  he  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  Name 

*  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  Lect.  3.  5  4.  "  Yet  after  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  Scripture 
saith,  that  Peter  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
that  the  soul  having  been  regenerated  through  their  faith,  the  body  also,  by 
means  of  the  water,  might  share  the  gift." 

t  Acts  xi.  18.  St.  Ambrose,  perhaps,  took  this  view,  in  that  he  speaks  of  the 
remission  of  sins  in  connection  with  Cornelius'  Baptism.  (De  Tobia,  c.  18. 
5  61.)  "  'And  he  commanded  them  to  be  baptized.'  And  thus  was  it  said  to 
him,  'thou  shalt  lend  on  usury  to  the  Gentiles'  (Deut.  xxviii.  12,)  by  remitting 
their  sins,  by  taking  away  their  debts  ;"  and  St.  Ambrose  seems  to  speak  of 
this  Baptism  of  Cornelius,  just  as  of  those  imparted  by  the  other  Apostles  in 
their  ordinary  ministry  ;  for  there  follows,  "  It  is  said  to  Paul,  who  was  sent  to 
the  Gentiles,  '  Thou  shalt  lend  to  the  Gentiles  ;'  it  is  said  to  John,  '  Thou 
shalt  lend  to  the  Gentiles  ;'  it  is  said  to  James  and  the  rest,  '  Ye  shall  lend 
to  the  Gentiles,'  it  being  said  to  them,  'Go  baptize  the  Gentiles.'  "  (Matt, 
xxviii.  29.) 

J  Acts  XV.  9.  St.  Cyril  refers  to  this  text  (note  p.  225,)  and  the  author  of  the 
Lib  de  rebaptismate  ap.  Cypr.  p.  356.  ed  St.  Maur,  "  and  thus  their  hearts, 
having  been  a  little  before  cleansed,  '  God,'  by  their  i^aith,  '  gave  them'  also  at 
the  same  time, '  remission  of  sins,'  so  that  the  Baptism,  which  followed,  only 


182 

of  the  Lord."*  Forasmuch,  then,  as  God  gave  them  the  like  gift 
even  as  to  us,  who  believed  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  I 
that  could  withstand  God?  But  they,  having  heard  these  things, 
were  quiet,  and  glorified  God,  saying,  '  Then  to  the  Gentiles  also 
hath  God  given  repentance  unto  life.'  "f  It  was,  as  we  see  from  the 
subsequent  history,  to  overcome  the  great  difficuhies  of  the  Church, 
in  admitting  the  Gentiles  into  the  one  fold  by  Baptism  only  and  with- 
out the  shadows  of  the  law,  that  God  worked  these  miracles,  and 
thereby  He  the  more  signally  set  His  seal  to  His  ordinance  of  Bap- 
tism, and  gave  it  a  dignity  proportioned  to  the  miracles,  whereby 
He  had  accompanied  its  first  bestowal  upon  the  Gentiles. 

This  which  is  so  strongly  marked,  as  the  teaching  of  this  history, 
the  fathers  agree  in  insisting  upon,  (whether  or  no  they  vary  as  to 
the  amount  of  the  immediate  gift  to  Cornelius.)  "  Even  Peter," 
says  S.  Irenaeus,!  "  although  he  was  sent  to  instruct  them,  and 
warned  by  such  a  vision,  yet  spake  with  much  fear  unto  them,  say- 
ing, *  Ye  yourselves  know  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  that  is  a  Jew 
to  join  himself,  or  have  intercourse  with  an  alien,  but  God  hath 
shewed  me  not  to  call  any  man  common  or  unclean  ;  wherefore  I  am 
come  without  gainsaying,'  signifying  by  these  words,  that  he  should 
not  have  come  unto  them,  unless  he  had  been  commanded.  So  also 
neither  would  he  have  given  them  Baptism  so  readily,  unless  he  had 
heard  them  prophesying,  the  Holy  Spirit  resting  upon  them.  And, 
therefore,  he  said,  '  Can  any  one  forbid  water,  that  these  should  not 
be  baptized,  who  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  even  as  we  ?'  at 
once  persuading  those  present  with  him,  and  signifying  that  unless 
the  Holy  Ghost  had  rested  upon  them,  there  would  have  been,  who 
would  have  hindered  them  from  Baptism."  And  St.  Cyprian, §  in 
proof  of  the  necessity  of  receiving  the  Church's  Baptism., '"  We  find  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  this  was  carefully  observed  by  the  Apos- 
tles, and  adhered  to  in  the  truth  of  ihe  saving  faith,  so  that  v/hen  in 
the  house  of  Cornelius  the  centurion,  the  Holy  Spirii  had  descended 
upon  the  Gentiles  who  were  there,  kindled  with  the  glow  of  faith, 
and  believing  in  the  Lord  with  the  whole  heart,  filled  with  Whom 
they  blessed  God  in  divers  tongues,  still  nevertheless  the  blessed 
Apostle  Peter,  mindful  of  the  Divine  and  evangelic  command,  com- 
manded those  same  persons  to  be  baptized  who  had  already  been 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  nothing  might  seem  to  be  omitted^ 
or  the  Apostolic  authorities  to  have  failed  of  keeping  universally  the 
law  of  the  Divine  command  and  of  the  Gospel."     And  St.  Chrysos- 

bestowed  upon  them  this,  that  they  should  have  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  call- 
ed upon  them,  lest  any  thing  should  seem  to  be  wanting  to  the  completeness 
of  the  ministry  and  of  the  Faith." 

*  Acts  X.  47,  48.        t  Acts  xi.  17, 18.        t  L-  3.  c.  13-  \  15.  ed.  Massuet. 

^  Ep.  72.  ad  Steph,  de  Concil. 


tome*,  "  See  the  dispensation  of  God.  He  allowed  not  the  dis- 
course to  be  finished,  nor  the  Baptism  to  take  place  at  the  command 
of  Peter  ;  but  seeing  they  had  evinced  an  admirable  character  of 
mind,  and  the  foundation  of  the  teaching  had  been  laid,  and  they  be- 
lieved fully  that  Baptism  is  the  remission  of  sins,  then  came  the 
Spirit  upon  them.  And  this  happened,  in  that  God  prepared  before- 
hand a  strong  defence  for  Peter.  And  they  did  not  simply  receive 
the  Spirit,  but  spake  with  tongues,  which  astonished  also  those  who 
had  come  together.  To  what  end  is  the  matter  so  ordered  1  For 
the  sake  of  the  Jews.  For  they  were  exceedingly  averse  to  it. 
Wherefore  the  whole  throughout  is  wrought  of  God.  And  Peter  is 
present,  as  it  were  almost  simply  to  be  instructed,  that  for  the  future 
they  were  to  have  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles,  and  this  was  to 
take  place  through  these  persons.  And  no  marvel.  For  when,  after 
miracles  so  great,  a  questioning  arose  both  at  Cesarea  and  at  Jeru- 
salem, what  had  been  the  case,  had  these  things  not  taken  place  ? 
Wherefore  they  do  take  place,  yea,  beyond  measure."  And  St.  Cy- 
ril,! "  This  was  a  peculiar  dispensation  (o'Vo""/"'"  "j)  on  account  of  the 
great  scruples  of  those  of  the  Circumcision  who  believed,  that  the 
Spirit  would  be  vouchsafed  to  Cornelius  and  his  friends  before  Bap- 
tism, so  to  quell  the  objection  of  those  who  were  indignant ;  whence 
also  it  is  said  of  them  who  spake  against  it,  '  and  having  heard,  they 
were  quiet.'  "  Lastly,  St.  Augustine,|  "  Peter  feared  to  deliver  the 
Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  because  they  of  the  circumcision  who  had 
believed,  objected  to  the  Apostles  delivering  the  Christian  faith  to 
men  uncircumcised.  That  vessel  then  removed  all  doubt.  For 
Cornelius,  and  they  who  were  with  him,  were  accounted  as  of  those 
^  animals,'  pointed  out  in  that  vessel,  whom  yet  God  had  now  cleans- 
ed, in  that  he  had  '  accepted  their  alms.'  They  were  then  to  be 
"*  slain  and  eaten,'  i,  e.  their  forepassed  life,  wherein  they  had  not 
known  Christ,  was  to  be  destroyed,  and  they  were  to  pass  into  His 
body,  as  it  were  into  the  new  life  of  the  society  of  the  Church."  So 
little  did  the  Ancients  think  of  the  admission  into  the  Church  as  a 
thing  outward. 

*HGm.  24.  in  Actt.  (x.  44.)  f  In  Cramer's  Catena  on  Acts  xi.  23. 

I  Serm.  149.  5  7.  8.  The  account  is  given  more  simply  historically  in  Ps. 
xcvi.  5  13.  and  in  Serm.  99.  de  verbis  Evang.  Luc.  7.  5  12  In  Serm.  269,  in 
cliem  Pentec.  he  remarks  on  it,  "  as  the  one  instance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  being 
given  before  Baptism,"  and  having  instanced  St.  Paul,  as  one  baptized  by  man, 
though  taught  of  God,  he  adds  the  case  of  Cornelius  (De  Doct.  Christiana. 
Prol.  §  6.)  as  an  additional  ground  why  the  ministry  of  man  should  not  be 
despised,  "  that  after  an  angel  had  announced  to  him  that  his  prayers  were 
heaid,  and  his  alms  accepted,  he  was  delivered  over  to  Peter,  not  only  to  re- 
ceive the  sacraments  from  him,  but  also  to  hear  what  he  was  to  believe,  what 
to  hope,  what  to  love  ;"  in  so  many  ways  does  this  history  show  the  dignity  of 
the  Christian  Sacraments ! 


184 

iii.  3.  Baptism  of  Simon  Magus. 

The  Baptism  of  Simon  Magas  has  been  looked  upon  as  the  exact 
reverse  of  that  of  Cornehiis  ;  as  if  Cornehus  had  not  only  before,  but 
independently  of,  Baptism,  received  it's  full  benefits,  Simon  Magus 
had  received  the  Sacrament,  but  not  it's  grace,  nor  any  influence 
from  it.  And  from  the  case  of  Simon  Magus,  they  took  occasion,  in 
ancient  times,  to  warn  Candidates  for  Baptism  of  the  risk  of  unw^or- 
thily  receiving  that  holy  Sacrament ;  in  modern,  they  have  employed 
this  instance,  in  combination  with  that  of  Cornelius,  as  a  proof  that 
God  has  not  made  His  Sacraments  the  vehicles  of  His  grace,  but 
either  bestows  it  without  them,  or  restrains  it  from  them,  as  He 
wills.  And  this  case  is  so  far  of  a  different  kind  from  that  of  Cor- 
nelius, that  it  does  seem  inserted  as  an  ensample  ;  it  has  not,  like 
the  dispensation  as  to  Cornelius,  any  reference  to  further  purposes 
of  God  ;  it  stands  complete  in  itself,  the  exhibition  of  a  bad  man, 
who,  whatever  Baptism  may  have  been  to  him,  shortly  after  returned 
to  his  former  sins,  and  wallowed  in  his  former  mire.  It  stands, 
(like  the  history  of  the  Corinthians  who  were  punished  for  their  pro- 
faneness  as  to  the  other  Sacrament,)  as  a  sort  of  fence  around  Bap- 
tism, warning  people  how  they  venture  "  to*  break  through  unto 
the  Lord,"  unsanctified  "  to  gaze,  and  many  of  them  perish."  Tt  is 
a  brand-mark,  also,  on  heresy,  that  the  first  heretic  either  came  to 
Baptism,  altogether  feignedly,  or,  at  least,  shortly  afterwards,  was 
"  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  bond  of  iniquity  ;"  either  never  having 
been  loosed  from  it,  or  having  forthwith  bound  it  again  yet  closer 
around  himself.  Holy  Scripture,  perhaps,  does  not  absolutely  de- 
cide either  way.  On  the  one  hand,  in  that  it  says,t  "  then  Simon 
himself  believed  also  ;  and  when  he  was  baptized,  continued  con- 
stantly with  Philip,"  it  would  appear,  that  he  did  "for  a  while  believe, 
though  in  time  of  temptation  he  fell  away  ;"  thus,  at  least,  every  ex- 
pression in  the  Scripture  narrative  is  taken  to  the  letter  ;  and,  in  this 
view,  Simon  Magus,  like  the  Magicians  of  Egypt,  for  a  while,  bow- 
ed before  the  Presence  of  a  Power  mightier  than  his  own,  and  ac- 
knowledged "  this  is  the  finger  of  God."  "Now  I  know, "J:  he  might 
say,  "  that  the  Lord  is  greater  than  all  gods  ;  for  in  the  thing  where- 
in they  dealt  proudly.  He  was  above  them  :"  he  had  "  given  himself 
out  to  be  some  great  one,"  and  had  "  bewitched  the  people  of  Sama- 
ria," and  now  he  witnessed  reality  take  the  place  of  deceit,  holiness 
of  unholinesss,  the  kingdom  of  God  of  the  power  of  Satan  ;  he  saw 
the  bands,  which  he  had  wound  round  the  people,  fall  off,  "  like  a 
thread  of  tow,  when  it  toucheth  the  fire  ;"  and  himself,  apparently, 
was  carried  along  with  the  common  impulse,  and  "  when  they  be- 
lieved Philip — they  were  baptized,  both  men  and  women  ;  then  Si- 
mon himself  believed  also."     And  the  further  notice  of  the  history^ 

*Ex.  six.  21.  fActsviii.  13.  |Ex.  xviii.  11. 


185 

that  "when he  was  baptized,  he  continued  withPhihp,  and ivonder- 
ed  beholding  the  miracles  and  signs  that  were  done,"  seems  just  to 
fall  in  with  this  frame  of  mind.  Though  his  belief  was  of  the  low- 
est kind,  still  there  appears  no  ground  for  questioning  it's  sincerity  ; 
"  for  a  while,  he  behoved,"  awe-struck  and  amazed,  and  "  continued, 
with  Phihp,"  so  long  as  nothing  happened  to  try  his  unstable  faith,  or 
require  any  sacrifice  to  it ;  he  was  converted  by  Philip,  and  with 
him  continued  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  arrival  of  St.  Peter  furnish- 
ed the  temptation  especially  adapted  to  him,  of  desiring  to  exercise 
again  as  a  Christian,  by  corrupt  means,  the  influence  which  he  had 
as  a  Pagan,  that  he  fell.  His  history  then  is,  alas  !  nothing  so  in- 
sulated in  that  of  mankind  :  it  is  the  type  of  that  common,  though 
fearful  occurrence,  when  men,  struck  by  some  awful  event  around 
them  or  in  their  own  lives,  or  by  some  imposing  act  of  God's  Provi- 
dence, for  a  while  abandon  their  evil  courses,  and  then  when  their 
besetting  temptation  recurs,  fall  back  into  it,  and,  for  the  most  part, 
sink  deeper  and  more  miserably.  Simon,  the  sorcerer,  but  entered 
the  Christian  pale  to  become  Simon  the  arch-heretic,  the  first  sedu- 
cer of  the  brethren,  the  first-born  of  Satan.  And  this  supposition 
that  a  real,  though  but  transitory  impression  was  made  upon  him, 
agrees  with  his  subsequent  conduct  on  the  terrible  denunciation  of 
St.  Peter  ;  he  stands  awe-struck  and  abased  ;  he  trusts  not  in  his 
own  prayers  ;*  he  humbles  himself  openly  before  the  Apostles, 
"  Pray  ye  unto  the  Lord  for  me,  that  none  of  these  things  which  ye 
have  spoken  come  upon  me."  We  know  that  this,  too,  lasted  but 
for  a  while  ;  and  that  the  wretched  man  died  opposing  the  Apostle, 
whose  prayers  he  now  sought ;  yet,  when  spoken,  it  bears  the  char- 
acter of  sincerity,  though  but  the  sincerity  of  a  slavish  fear  ;  he 
seems  to  speak  ignorantly  and  vaguely,  as  with  but  a  rude  and  con- 
fused apprehension  of  what  he  was  deprecating,—"  that  none  of 
these  things  which  ye  have  spoken ;"  still  as  far  as  such  an  one 
could  apprehend  spiritual  danger,  he  seems  to  have  felt  it,  and  by 
shrinking  from  it,  acknowledged  its  reality.     Much  this  view  of  the 

*  So  Athanasius  contra  Catharos,  Serm.  3.  ap.  Cramer,  Catena,  ad  Actt.  8, 
33.  "  And  of  such  avail  was  the  exhortation  to  repentance  by  this  great  Apos- 
tle, even  to  so  great  a  sorcerer,  and  one  so  full  of  gall  and  bitterness,  and  so 
replete  with  so  great  evils,  that  he  showed  signs  of  repentance,  as  Scripture 
testifies  of  him,  '  Pray  ye  to  the  Lor.l  for  me,'  for  I  have  no  boldness  to  ap- 
proach Him,  '  that  none  of  these  things  come  upon  me  ;'  nor  did  the  Divine 
Apostle  reject  or  deny  him  ;  for  how  should  he  who  had  suggested  it ;  but  this 
very  person,  being  so  great  a  sorcerer,  was  so  far  benefitted  by  the  hope  of  re- 
pentance, that  he  was  so  far  turned  from  his  wickedness  and  bitterness,  as  to 
say,  '  I  am  not  worthy  to  pray  for  myself,  but  do  ye  pray  to  the  Lord  for  me.'  " 
— Chrys.  ad  loc  Hom.  18.  in  Actt.  iji  3.  "In  that  he  says,  'pray  ye  for  me,' 
these  are  the  words  of  one  confessing  and  showing  his  deeds.  Lo !  how,  though 
a  bad  man,  yet  when  he  was  reproved,  then  he  believed,  and  moreover  he 
became  humble,  when  he  was  again  reproved." 


186 

case  of  Simon  Magus  seems  to  result  from  the  combination  of  seve- 
ral passages  of  St.  Augustine,  who  has  considered  it  more  in  detail 
than  any  other  Father.  "  When*  that  Simon  Magus,  being  baptized 
by  Phihp,  clave  unto  him,  believing  the  Divine  miracles  vi^rought  in 
his  presence,  the  Apostles  came  to  Samaria,  where  the  sorcerer 
[Magus]  himself  also  had  believed,  and  where  he  was  baptized,  and 
the  Apostles  laid  their  hands  on  the  men  who  were  baptized,  and 
they  began  to  speak  with  tongues,  he  wondered  and  was  astonished 
at  so  great  and  Divine  a  miracle,  that  upon  the  imposition  of  men's 
hands,  the  Holy  Spirit  came  and  filled  men  ;  and  he  longed,  not  for 
the  grace,  but  for  the  power,  not  to  be  made  free,  but  to  be  uplifted ; 
but  when  he  longed  for  this,  and  pride  filled  his  heart,  and  Satanic 
impiety,  and  a  haughtiness,  which  was  to  be  brought  down,  the  Apos- 
tle said,"  &c.  "  Ast  that  Simon  Magus  wished  to  enter  on  things 
too  high  for  him,  and  so  took  7nore  pleasure  in  the  poive?'  of  Apostles, 
than  in  the  righteousness  of  Christians.  But  when  he  saw  that  by 
the  imposition  of  the  Apostle's  hands,  and  through  their  prayers, 
God  gave  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the  faithful,  and  because  the  coming  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  Avas  then  attested  by  a  miracle,  in  that  they  spake 
with  tongues, — Simon  seeing  this,  wished  to  work  such  things,  not 
himself  to  be  such. — The  Lord  cast  out  of  the  temple  those  who 
sold  doves  ;  but  the  dove  denotes  the  Holy  Spirit ;  Simon  then 
wished  to  purchase  the  Dove,  and  to  sell  the  Dove ;  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Who  dwelt  in  Peter,  came,  and  with  a  scourge,  cast  out  of 
the  temple  the  wicked  trafficker."  "  Was|  that  Simon  Magus  bap- 
tized with  Christ's  Baptism  ?  They  will  answer,  yes  !  for  they  are 
compelled  by  the  authority  of  Holy  Scripture.  I  ask,  then,  wheth- 
er they  confess  that  his  sins  were  forgiven  him  ?  They  will  confess 
it.  I  ask  again,  why  did  Peter  say  to  him  that  he  had  no  part  in  the 
lot  of  the  saints  ?  Because,  they  say,  he  afterwards  sinned,  wish- 
ing to  purchase  with  money  the  gift  of  God,  whereof  he  thought  the 
Apostles  were  sellers."  "  For^  that  Simon  Magus  was  born  of 
water  and  the  Spirit,  and  yet  did  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heav- 
en." "  —  all II  good  gifts  of  God,  no  one  denies  ;  but  see  with  whom 
they  are  shared.  Consider  the  gifts  of  the  Church  herself.  The 
gift  of  the  Sacraments  in  Baptism,  in  the  Eucharist,  in  the  other  holy 
mysteries,  what  a  gift  it  is  !  Yet  this  gift  Simon  Magus  also  obtain- 
ed." In  like  manner,  TertullianlF  speaks  of  him  as  a  Christian, 
"  Thence  also  Simon,  when  now  one  of  the  faithful,**  because  he 
yet  thought  on  the  mountebank  sect,  and  would  fain  in  union  with 

*  In  Ps.  XXX.  Enarr.  3.  fin.  f  InPs.  130.  ^  5. 

}  De  Bapt.  c.  Donatist.  L.  4.  ^  17. 

\  De  Bapt.  c.  Donatist.  L.  6.  5  19.  |  In  Ps.  103.  Serm.  1.  }  9. 

1  De  Idol.  c.  9. 

**  Fidelis,  a  faithful,  a  baptized  Christian. 


187 

the  wonders  of  his  own  art,  sell  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  imposition  of 
hands,  cursed  by  the  Apostles,  was  cast  out  of  the  faith."* 

On  the  other  hand,  perhaps,  on  account  of  the  form  of  the  Scrip- 
tm'e  narrative,  "  when  they  believed  Philip, — they  were  baptized, 
both  men  and  women,  then  Simon  himself  believed,"  it  has  been 
more  commonly!  supposed  that  Scripture  means  that  his  belief  was 
consequent,  not  on  ihe  miracles  wrought  by  Philip,  but  on  the  belief 
of  the  multitudes  who  had  formerly  given  heed  to  him  ;  and  that 
finding  himself  deserted  by  his  followers,  he  joined  them,  feigning 
belief,  and  waiting  his  opportunity  to  recover  within  the  Church  the 
ascendancy  which  he  had  possessed  out  of  it.  Thus  he  would  be 
the  type  of  such  as  come  to  Baptism  hypocritically,  and  his  first 
entrance  into  the  Church  would  be  a  sort  of  premeditation  of  the  sin 
upon  which  his  name  has  been  stamped,  the  employing  secular 
means  to  obtain  the  gifts  of  God,  in  order  to  abuse  the  gifts  of  God 
to  secular  ends.:|:  But  of  whichsoever  class  he  be  the  representa- 
tive, whether  of  those  who  receive  the  gifts  of  God,  and  forthwith 
fall  away,  or  of  such,  as  coming  hypocritically,  receive  nothing,  but 
what  they  look  for,  and  "  have  tlieir  reward"  from  the  god  of  this 
world,  in  whose  name  and  service  they  come,  and  whose  wages  they 
seek,  either  way  the  example  is  evidently  not  to  be  extended  beyond 
what  the  case  immediately  warrants ;  it  is  no  proof  that  God  withholds 
His  grace  from  his  Sacraments,  except  when  man  disqualifies  him- 
self from  receiving  it.  It  furnishes  an  awful  warning  to  those  who 
approach  in  unbelief  and  hypocrisy,  but  it  gives  no  disclosure  as  to 
God's  general  dealings  in  his  Sacraments,  It  is  an  excepted  case, 
in  which  God  restrains  the  overflowings  of  His  goodness,  and  not  to 
be  stretched  beyond  the  marks  which  he  has  pointed  out ;  yet  it  is 
manifestly  only  by  such  undue  extension  that  from  the  case  of  one, 
who  closes  his  own  soul  against  God's  gift,  any  inference  can  be 
made  as  to  God's  dealings  with  the  majority  of  baptized  Christians, 
who,  being  baptized  when  they  know  neither  good  nor  evil,  would 
not  be  shut  out  (if  they  were  so)  by  any  act  or  character  of  their 
own,  but  by  the  inscrutable  decree  of  God.  In  a  word,  a  case  in 
which  man  excludes  himself,  furnishes  no  presumption  that  God  ex- 

*  Calvin  also  supposes  Simon's  belief  to  have  been  real,  though  he  after- 
wards modifies  his  statement  in  conformity  with  his  system.  "  In  that  faith  is 
ascribed  to  him,  we  do  not  imderstand  with  some  that  he  pretended  a  faith 
which  he  had  not ;  but  rather  that  overcome  by  the  majesty  of  the  Gospel  he 
believed  it  after  a  manner,  and  so  acknowledged  Christ  to  be  the  author  of  life 
and  salvation,  as  gladly  to  subject  himself  to  Him." — Institt.  3,  2,  10. 

f  This  view  is  taken  by  S.  Irenaeus,  (1.  23.  [al.  20]  1.)  Epiphanius  (Haer. 
21.  init.)  Eusebius  (H.  E.  2.  1.)  Jerome  (in  Ezek.  L.  4.  c  16.  p.  146.  ed. 
Vail.)  St.  Chrysostome,  and  ad  loc.  St.  Cyril-  Introd.  Lect.  5  2-  and  xvii.35. 
S.  Gregory  (in  Ps.  v.  Poenitent.  \  13.  t.  3.  p.  2.  col.  518.)  Corn,  a  Lapide  ad 
loc.  alleges  also  S.  Ambrose  de  Pcenit.  2.  2.  but  wrongly. 

X  Nullus  jam  inter  eos  iniquus,  Spiritum  volens  emere,  dumcogitat  vendere. 
Aug.  in  Ps.  ex.  }  8. 


188 

eludes  others  ;  the  casting  out  of  the  man  who  refused  the  wedding- 
garnaeiit,  yields  no  ground  for  thinking  that  God  would  not  invest 
those  with  it,  who  by  reason  of  their  age,  could  not  put  it  from  them. 
It  is,  accordingly,  to  the  case  of  adults  alone  that  this  exception  is  ap- 
plied by  the  ancient  Church,  as  it  is  by  its  own  nature  limited  to 
them.  Thus  St.  Jerome,*  commenting  on  the  words,  'Thou  wast 
not  washed  in  water  to  thy  health,'  says,  "  there  are  many  washings, 
which  the  heathen  in  their  mysteries,  and  the  heretics  hold  out,  who 
wash  all,  but  '  wash  not  to  health,'  wherefore,  it  is  added,  '  and  thou 
wast  not  washed  in  water  to  health.'  Which  indeed  may  be  under- 
stood, not  only  of  heretics,  but  of  those  attached  to  the  Church  (Ec- 
clesiastici)  who  do  not  in  full  faith  receive  health-giving  Baptism. — 
Of  whom  it  must  be  said,  that  they  received  the  water,  but  received  not 
the  Spirit,  as  that  Simon  Magus  also,  who  wished  to  purchase  with  mo- 
ney the  gift  of  God,  was  baptized  indeed  in  water,  and  *  was  not  bap- 
tized to  health  ;'  "  and  St.  Cyril, t  "  Even  Simon  Magus  once  came 
to  the  door  of  Baptism  ;  he  was  baptized,  but  not  enlightened.  His 
body  he  dipped  in  water,  but  admitted  not  the  Spirit  to  illuminate  his 
heart ;  his  body  went  down,  and  came  up  ;  but  his  soul  was  not 
buried  with  Christ,  nor  with  Him  raised.  I  mention  such  instances 
of  falls,  that  thou  mayest  not  fail." 

Limited  then  to  the  case  to  which  alone  it  can  belong,  that  of  the 
adult,  the  case  of  Simon  Magus  does  give  very  awful  admonition, 
and  that  the  more  needed  in  any  Church,  as  Infant  Baptism  comes 
to  be  neglected.  In  his  life,  as  Ananias  in  his  death,  he  stands  as  a 
monument,  admonishing  all  how  they  dare  trifle  with  the  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  invitation  to  repentance  comes  with  an  uncer- 
tainty and  (so  to  speak)  a  misgiving^  very  different  from  the  ordi- 

*  1.  c. 

f  Introd.  Lect.  J  2.  p.  1.  Oxf.  Transl. 

t  "  And  the  Apostle  having  spoken  thus  straightly  and  rightly  to  him,  re- 
garded none  of  these  things  incurable  by  repentance ;  rather  judging  them 
curable,  he  added,  '  repent  of  thy  wickedness,  and  pray  the  Lord,  if,  perhaps, 
the  thought  of  thy  heart  may  be  forgiven  thee ;'  he  says,  '  perhaps,'  not  as 
questioning  it,  but  because  diseases  ill-curable,  are  not  yet  incurable,  but  ill- 
eurable  ;  for  had  it  been  incurable,  it  had  been  superfluous  to  say,  '  repent, 
and  pray  the  Lord  !'  but  because  repentance  avails  even  in  these  cases,  but 
that  those  weighed  down  in  sin  have  need  of  much  repentance  and  concern, 
he  added,  '  if  perhaps,'  "  &c.  Athanasius,  1.  c.  "  It  is  evinced  that  repentance 
suffices  to  overcome  all  sin,  through  the  mercy  of  God,  Who  rejoiceth  in  re- 
pentance ;  but  the  addition  of  '  perhaps,'  shews  that  repentance  is  with  diffi- 
culty realized  by  such  as  sin  against  the  Divinity  Itself,  as  did  Simon,  in  that 
he  thought  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  exert  His  influences  out  of  regard  for 
money."  Anon.  ib.  on  v.  22.  "Wherefore  he  said,  'if  perhaps,'  in  order  to 
alarm  him  by  the  doubt,  that  he  might  seek  God  with  earnestness  and  tears." 
— Ammonius  Presbyter,  ib.  on  v.  17.  who  however  also  gives  the  more  alarm- 
ing view,  "  nevertheless  it  may  be  conjectured  also,  that  Peter  so  spake,  be- 
cause Simon  seemed  to  have  sinned  beyond  forgiveness,  as  having  blasphemed 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  that  he  thought  that  God  would  yield  to  money,  or 


189 

nary  tenor  of  Holy  Scripture  ;  "  {{perhaps  the  thought  of  thine  heart 
may  be  forgiven  thee."  God  smote  him  not  at  once,  hke  Ananias, 
offered  him  repentance,  warned  him  of  its  difficulty  ;  and  he  repented 
not ;  and  so  he  lived  on,  the  father  of  all  heretics,*  the  first  who 
wrought  Satan's  work  on  earth,  as  the  seducer  of  the  brethren,  and, 
at  last,  having  been  suffered,  so  long  as  God  saw  good,  was  cut  off" 
in  the  crowning  act  of  impiety,  cast  down  to  the  earth,  while  he 
would  ascend  towards  heaven, t  at  the  prayer  (together  with  St. 
Paul)  of  the  same  Apostle,  who  once  had  bade  him  '*  repent." 

The  fearfulness  of  the  subsequent  history  makes  it  probable  that, 
whether  he  profaned  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  at  the  time,  by  coming 
to  it  in  hypocrisy,  or  by  admitting  so  soon  after,  "  seven  other  spirits, 
more  wicked"  than  he  which  had  been  "  cast  out,"  he  made  it  a 
curse  to  him,  instead  of  a  blessing.  And  this  awfulness,  so  far  from 
being  in  any  way  diminished  by  the  view  which  the  modern  school 
has  used  to  sever  off  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament,  is  increased  by  it. 
For  if  he  came  to  Baptism  in  hypocrisy,  then  it  could  not  be  doubted 
that  his  subsequent  abandonment  to  the  power  of  Satan,  as  of  one 
"  sold  to  work  wickedness,"  was  a  judgment  upon  that  previous  sin. 
And  as,  after  receiving  the  Body  of  the  Lord,  Satan  entered  into 
Judas,  and  took  final  possession  of  him,  so,  after  the  unworthy  re- 
ceiving of  Baptism,  came  he  into  Simon  Magus,  and  wrought  him 
into  a  more  signal  instrument  of  his  kingdom  and  his  blasphemies, 
and  made  him,  who  had  so  tempted  Christ,  the  first  Antichrist ;  the 
first  emblem  of  "  the  man  of  sin."  And  thus,  combined  with  the 
analogy  of  the  other  Sacrament,  it  would  open  a  very  awful  view  of 
the  case  of  adults  who  receive  Baptism  wickedly,  from  worldly  motives, 
and  with  contempt  of  God's  ordinance.  For  as  they  "  who  eat  and 
drink  unworthily,  eat  and  drink  judgment  to  themselves,  not  discern- 
ing the  Lord's  Body,"  so  there  seems  much  reason  to  fear  that  they 
who  receive  Baptism  unworthily,  receive  it  not  merely  without  be- 
nefit, but  to  their  hurt,  discerning  not  the  Presence  of  the  Holy  Tri- 
nity, and  despising  what  God  hath  sanctified.  I  speak  not  of  parti- 
cular cases,  for  God  has  in  a  wonderful  manner,  for  His  own  glory, 
made  Baptism   effectual,    when  administered  in  mockeryl  by  hea- 

that  he  supposed  that  the  Apostles,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  could  be 
slaves  to  money,  and  so  through  them  insulted  the  Spirit,  supposing  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  to  dwell  in  such  men  enslaved  to  money."  S.  Chrysostome  sup- 
poses the  sin  to  have  been  remissible,  ad  loc. 

*  Iran.  1.  c  L.  2.  Praef.  1.  L.  3.  Prsef.  1.  Epiph.  Hser.  21. 

t  See  St.  Cyril,  vi.  10.  Oxf  Transl.  and  note. 

X  The  history  and  authorities  are  given  at  length  by  Tillemont,  Memm. 
Eccles.  t.  iv.  p.  173  :  and  it  bears  the  evidence  of  truth  :  the  fact  that  the 
Christian  Sacrament  of  Baptism  at  least  was  acted  upon  the  heathen  stage,  is 
implied  by  St.  Augustine,  who  incidentally  inquires,  whether  Baptism  ad- 
ministered without  any  serious  intention  or  in  a  play  (in  mimo)  is  valid  1  (de 
Bapt.  c.  Donat.  L.  7.  \  151.)     He  puts  also  the  case,  '  if  so  be,  one  suddenly 


ihens  on  a  heathen  stage,  to  interest  the  curiosity  of  a  profane  audi- 
ence, and  a  pagan  emperor ;  and  God  has  put  forth  His  power  to 
vindicate  His  own  ordinances,  by  making  the  poor  buffoon  a  convert, 
and  enduing  the  convert  of  Baptism  with  strength  for  instant  mar- 
tyrdom. God  can  vindicate  His  ordinances,  by  making  them  all- 
powerful  either  to  save  or  to  destroy.  But  when  there  is  no  such 
signal  end  to  be  attained,  one  would  tear  that  they  would  be  perni- 
cious to  the  profane  recipient.  St.  Augustine*  argues  thus,  in  part 
from  the  very  case  of  tSimon  Magus  :  "  What !  although  the  Lord 
Himself  say  of  His  Body  and  Blood,  the  only  Sacrifice  for  our  salva- 
tion, '  unless  a  man  eat  my  Flesh,  and  drink  my  Blood,  he  hath  no 
life  in  him,'  doth  not  the  same  Apostle  teach  that  this  also  becomes 
hurtful  to  those  who  abuse  it,  for  he  says,  '  Whosoever  eateth  the 
bread  and  drinketh  the  cup  of  the  Lord  unworthily,  shall  be  guilty  of 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Lord  ?'  See  then  Divine  and  Holy  things 
are  pernicious  to  those  who  abuse  them  ;  why  not  then  Baptism  ]" 
And  again  :t  "  The  Church  bore  Simon  Magus  by  Baptism,  to 
whom  however  it  was  said,  that  he  had  no  part  in  the  inheritance  of 
Christ.  Was  Baptism,  was  the  (xospel,  were  the  Sacraments,  want- 
ing to  him  ?  But  since  love  was  wanting,  he  was  born  in  vain,  and 
perhaps  it  had  been  better  fur  him  not  to  have  been  born ;"  andj 
"God  sanctifies  His  Sacrament,  so  that  it  may  avail  to  a  man  who 
should  be  truly  converted  to  Him  whether  before  Baptism,  or  while 
being  baptized,  or  afterwards  ;  as  unless  he  were  converted  it  would 
avail  to  his  destruction  :"  and  again  he  appeals  to  the  Donatists  :^ 
"  Ye  yourselves  have  virtually  pronounced  your  judgment  that  Bap- 
tism depends  not  on  their  merits,  by  whom,  nor  upon  theirs,  to  whom, 
it  is  admniistered,  but  upon  its  own  holiness  and  verity,  for  His  sake 
hy  whom  it  was  instituted,  to  the  destruction  of  those  who  use  it 
amiss,  to  salvation  to  those  who  use  it  rightly."  In  like  way,  ano- 
ther ancient  writer,  ||  still  from  this  same  case,  "  For  as  he  who  eateth 

kindled  should  receive  it  faithfully,'  which  exactly  corresponds  with  the  facts 
of  the  history.  And  he  proceeds  to  contrast  "  one  who  in  the  farce  believed," 
with  "one  who  in  the  Church  mocked."  The  history  is  briefly  this,  that  the 
player,  when  baptized,  saw  a  vision,  was  converted,  and  when  led,  (as  the 
custom  was,  when  the  mock  baptism  was  concluded,)  before  the  Emperor, 
confessed  himself  converted,  and  to  have  become  indeed  a  Christian,  and  seal- 
ed his  newly-bestowed  faith  by  immediate  martyrdom.  The  previous  pro- 
faneness  is  (it  may  be  remarked)  one  instance  of  the  necessity,  under  which 
the  ancient  Church  was  placed,  of  concealing  the  mysteries  of  her  faith, 
which  moderns,  under  the  name  of  the  "  disciplina  arcani,"  have  so  ignorantly 
blamed. 

*  C,  Crescon.  Donatist.  L.  1.  5  30,  31. 

t  De  Baptismo  c.  Donatist.  L.  1.  {  14. 

i  lb.  L.  6  \  47.  §  Ibid.  L.  4.  \  19. 

11  Auct.  lib.  cent.  Fulgent.  Donat.  c.  6.  ap.  S.  Aug.  0pp.  T,  8.  App.  p.  6. 
ed.  Ben. 


191 

and  (irinketh  the  Blood  of  the  Lord  unworthily,  eateth  and  drinketh 
judgment  to  himself,  so  he  also  who  receiveth  Baptism  unworthily, 
receiveth  judgment,  not  salvation.  For  both  Judas  the  traitor  receiv- 
ed the  body  of  Christ,  being  good,  and  Simon  Magus  the  Baptism  of 
Christ,  being  good,  but  because  they  did  not  use  well  that  which  was 
good,  being  evil,  by  using  evilly  they  were  destroyed.  Baptism  is 
a  good ;  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  is  a  good  :  the  law  is  good, 
but  only  if  a  man  use  it  lawfully." 

The  same  view  is  found  in  other  early  Fathers,  as  a  general  prin- 
ciple, not  built  at  all  upon  this  case.  Thus  Tertullian*  gives  as  one 
meaning  of  the  words,  "  Who  shall  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  fire,"  "  because  a  true  and  stable  faith  is  baptized  in  water  to 
salvation,  but  an  hypocritical  and  unstable  is  baptized  with  fire  to 
judgment."  And  Origen,!  "  Whereas  the  four  say  that  John  con- 
fessed that  he  came  to  baptize  with  water,  Matthew  alone  added 
thereto,  '  unto  repentance,'  teaching  that  the  benefit  from  Baptism 
depends  upon  the  purpose  of  him  who  is  baptized,  being  imparled  to 
him  who  repenteth,  but  to  him  who  cometh  without  repentance,  it 
will  be  to  the  greater  damnation  ;"  and  St.  Athanasius,|  "  'Blessed 
is  the  man  to  whom  the  Lord  imputeth  no  sin,'  for  he  is  truly  bless- 
ed who  with  his  whole  heart  approacheth  to  Holy  Baptism.  But 
whoso  is  baptized  in  hypocrisy,  (/^''■«  ^"^<>^)  besides  that  he  obtaineth 
not  remission,  shall  also  receive  damnation."  And  so  Damascene,^ 
as  a  collector  of  more  ancient  opinions,  "  He  who  cometh  in  hypo- 
crisy, shall  be  condemned,  rather  than  benefitted." 

The  history  of  Simon  Magus  would,  if  it  may  be  viewed  as  hypo- 
critical Baptism,  be  a  testimony  that  even  this  did  not  put  a  person 
beyond  the  mercies  of  God.  It  would  show  it  to  be  reparable  al- 
though in  his  case  it  was  not  repaired.  For  St.  Peter  exhorts  him 
to  repentance  ;  and  so  shows  that  repentance,  though  very  difficult, 
was  open  to  him.  This  were  very  comforting  ;  for  otherwise  the 
painful  question  must  have  forced  itself  upon  us,  whether  (since 
there  is  no  other  appointed  means  whereby  the  new  birth  is  bestow- 
ed,) one  who  had  received  the  Sacrament  of  Regeneration  in  unbe- 
lief had  not  precluded  himself  for  ever  from  being  born  again  ?  Such 
a  case  is  not  elsewhere  provided  for  in  Holy  Scripture  ;  and  it  would 
imply,  for  the  most  part,  such  profane  contempt  of  God's  institution, 
such  a  servitude  to  the  god  of  this  world,  that  one  should  almost 
dread  to  argue  from  general  declarations  of  Holy  Scripture,  or  to 
speak  where  God  in  His  word  had  been  silent.  Where  God  indeed 
gives  repentance,  we  are  safe  in  concluding  that  he  is  ready  to  par- 
don the  offence,  however  in  its  own  nature  it  may  seem  to  put  a  per- 
son out  of  the  covenant  of  grace  and  repentance,  and  at  the  same 

*  De  Bapt.  c.  10. 
t  In  Joann,  T.  6.  {  17. 

\  In  Ps.  xxxi.  2.  T.  2.  p.  1050.  Supp.  Comm.  ap.  Mont.  Coli.  Nov.  T.  2.  p. 
90.  ^  De  Fide,  4,  5. 


192 

time  to  preclude  his  entering  again  into  it ;  and  to  any  person  who, 
having  thus  sinned,  is  concerned  about  his  salvation,  that  very  con- 
cern is  a  proof  that  God,  in  his  case,  has  not  withdrawn  his  Spirit. 
Or,  again,  since  those  tempted  to  commit  it,  are  either  heathen,  or 
members  of  a  sect,  which  grievously  disparages  the  Sacrament  of 
Baptism,  one  may  hope  that  they  in  some  measure  have  done  it 
"ignorantly,  in  unbelief,"  through  ignorance,  not  altogether  their  own 
sin,  but  in  part  the  sin  of  those  who  have  taken  upon  themselves  the 
care  of  their  souls.  Otherwise  it  seems  sinning  with  so  high  a  hand, 
and  so  to  cut  off  the  very  means  of  pardon  and  pledge  of  grace,  that 
one  should  be  horribly  afraid  for  any  one  who  thought  of,  or  had 
committed  it. 

One  portion,  however,  of  the  ancient  Church  (the  African)  seems 
to  have  held  decisively,  not  only  that  this  sin  of  receiving  Baptism 
unworthily  would  be  forgiven  upon  repentance,  but  that  it  did  not 
hinder  repentance,  St.  Augustine,  namely,  uses  this  case*  as  an 
argument  against  the  Donatists,  why  the  Church  did  not  re-baptize 
those  who  sought  to  be  restored  to  her  out  of  a  schismatic  commu- 
nion, although  she  held  the  Baptism  administered  in  that  communion 
to  be  useless  while  men  remained  in  it.  "  If  they  say  that  sins  are 
not  forgiven  to  one  who  comes  hypocritically  t  to  Baptism,  I  ask,  if  he 
aftervvards  confess  his  hypocrisy  with  a  contrite  heart  and  true  grief, 
is  he  to  be  baptized  again  ?  If  it  be  most  insane  to  affirm  this,  let  them 
confess  that  a  man  may  be  baptized  with  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  and 
yet  his  heart,  persevering  in  malice  and  sacrilege,  would  not  allow 
his  sins  to  be  done  away  :  and  thus  let  them  understand  that  in  com- 
munions separated  from  the  Church  men  may  be  baptized,  (when 
the  Baptism  of  Christ  is  given  and  received,  the  Sacrament  being 
administered  in  the  same  way  ;)  which  yet  is  then  first  of  avail  to  the 
remission  of  sins,  when  the  person  being  reconciled  to  the  unity  of 
the  Church,  is  freed  from  the  sacrilege  of  dissent,  whereby  his  sins 
were  retained,  and  precluded  from  being  forgiven.  For  as  he  who 
had  come  hypocritically,  is  not  baptized  again ;  but  what  without 
Baptism  could  not  be  cleansed,  is  cleansed  by  that  pious  correction 
(of  life)  and  true  confession,  so  that  what  was  before  given,  then 
begins  to  avail  to  salvation,  when  that  hypocrisy  is  removed  by  a 
true  confession  ;  so  also  the  enemy  of  the  love  and  peace  of  Christ," 
&c.  St.  Augustine  frequently  repeats  this  illustration,  and  speaks 
confidently  as  if  it  were  a  known  fact ;  as  does  also  another  writerj 
of  the  African  Church.  It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  the  schoolmen 
and  their  commentators,  although  deeply  read  in  the  Fathers,  or   at 

*  De  Baptismo  c.  Donatist.  L.  1.  5  18. 

t  This  hypocrisy  St.  Augustine  explains,  ib.  L.  5.  c.  18,  19.  to  be  "renounc- 
ing the  world  in  words  not  in  deeds,  and  coming  so  to  baptism," 

I  The  author  of  the  sermon  on  the  Passion  of  Christ  in  the  appendix  to  Cy- 
prian, quoted  by  Vazquez  in  3  Part.  Disp.  159.  c.  1. 


193 

least  with  a  considerable  traditional  knowledge  of  them,  when  treat- 
ing expressly  on  this  subject*  produce  only  those  two  authors,  and 
thatoutof  this  same  Church.  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  other 
hand,  speaks  of  the  loss  as  absolutely  irreparable.  "  If  thou  feign- 
est,"  he  addresses  the  catechumen,!  "  now  do  men  baptize  thee,  but 
the  Spirit  will  not  baptize  thee,  Thou  art  come  to  a  great  examina- 
tion, and  enlisting,  in  this  single  hour  ;  which  if  thou  losest,  the  evil 
is  irreparable,  but  if  thou  art  thought  worthy  of  the  grace,  thy  soul  is 
enlightened;  thou  receivest  a  power  which  thouhadst  not;  thou  re- 
ceivest  weapons  at  which  the  demons  tremble  ;  and  if  thou  castest . 
not  away  thy  armor,  but  kcepest  the  seal  upon  thy  soul,  the  demon 
approacheth  not ;  for  he  is  afraid  :  for  by  the  Spirit  of  God  are  dev- 
ils cast  out."  It  may  be  that  St.  Cyril  may  have  meant,  as  is  said 
also  of  all  impairing  of  baptismal  purity,  that  it  cannot  be  wholly  re- 
paired, since  there  is  no  second  Baptism,  as  he  says,|  "  The  bath 
cannot  be  received  twice  or  thrice  ;  else  might  a  man  say,  '  Though 
I  fail  once,  I  shall  succeed  a  second  time ;'  but  if  thou  failest  the 
*  once,'  it  cannot  be  repaired.  For  '  there  is  one  Lord,  and  one 
Faith,  and  one  Baptism.'  "  The  question  is  very  awful :  as,  what  is 
not,  which  concerns  our  souls  ?  It  may  suffice  to  have  said  thus 
much  upon  it,  if  by  any  means  persons  might  see  that  subjects  of 
which  they  speak  lightly,  are  indeed  very  fearful. 

And  thus  the  case  of  Simon  Magus,  so  far  from  lowering  the  sa- 
crament of  Baptism,  does,  while  it  points  out  one  case  in  which  men 
may  shut  out  its  grace  from  themselves,  cast  a  very  awful  dignity 
around  it,  showing  how  reverentially  it  must  be  approached^  and  re- 
ceived, and  carefully  guarded,  else  might"  that  which  should  be  for 
their  welfare,  become  a  snare,"!  aiid  that  which  was  ordained  as  "  a 
savourTI  of  life  unto  life,  in  them  that  are  saved,"  be,  "  in  them  that 
perish,  a  savour  of  death  unto  death." 

iii.  4.   The  Baptism  of  John. 

The  inferiority  of  the  Baptism  of  John  to  Christian  Baptism  is 
declared  by  the  holy  Baptist  himself.  "  I**  indeed  baptize  you  with 
water  unto  repentance  ;  but  He  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier  than 

*  "  Whether  Baptism,  which  on  account  of  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Catechu- 
men had  not  the  effect  of  justifying,  have  that  effect  on  the  removal  of  that 
hypocrisy  V  Comp.  Vazquez,  1.  c. 

t  Catch.  17.  n.  36.  %  Procateches.  n.  7. 

^  Hence  our  Church  kindly  requires  in  adult  Baptism  that  "  timely  notice 
be  given  to  the  Bishop,  or  whom  he  shall  appoint  for  that  purpose,  a  week 
before  at  the  least,  that  so  due  care  may  be  taken  for  their  examination, 
whether  they  be  sufficiently  instructed  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  and  that  they  be  duly  exhorted  to  prepare  themselves  with  prayers  and 
fasting  for  the  receiving  the  Holy  Sacrament.'''' — Rubric  prefixed  to  office  of 
Baptism  of  those  of  riper  years. 

I  Ps.  Ixix.  22.  1  2  Cor.  ii.  15,  16. 

**  Mat^iii.  11. 

VOL.  II. — 7 


194 

I ;  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear.  He  shall  baptize  you  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."  And  this  difference  of  the  two  Bap- 
tisms he  alleges  as  the  proof  of  his  own  inferiority  to  his  Lord,  and 
as  resulting  from  that  inferiority.  It  was  when  "  the  people  were  in 
expectation,  and  all  men  mused  in  their  hearts  of  John,  whether  he 
were  the  Christ  or  no,"*  that  he  so  "  answered."  The  difference  of 
their  Baptisms  is  the  very  proof  that  "  He  who  was  coming"  was 
"  mightier  than"  John,  and  one  to  whom  the  holy  John  was  unworthy 
to  perform  the  very  lowest  service  ;  their  Baptisms  were  their  own  } 
and  such  as  they  were,  such  was  the  might  and  efficacy  of  their  Bap- 
tisms. The  Baptism  of  John  instructive,  and  significant,  and  prepa- 
ratory, as  from  a  holy  man,  a  preacher  of  repentance,  and  the  fore- 
runner of  the  Lord  ;  the  Baptism  of  Christ  sin-remitting,  sanctifying, 
and  life-giving,  as  being  from  the  Lord,  the  Redeemer,  to  whom,  as 
man,  the  Spirit  was  without  measure  given  ;  who,  as  God,  shed  forth 
abundantly  that  Spirit,  which  had  again  in  His  sacred  person  re- 
sumed His  dwelling  in  man.  "  'I  baptize  you  with  water.'  Soon," 
says  St.  Ambrose,!  "  has  he  proved  that  he  is  not  the  Christ,  in  that 
he  hath  only  a  visible  office.  For  man,  consisting  of  two  natures, 
soul  and  body,  the  visible  is  consecrated  by  things  visible,  the  invisi- 
ble by  the  invisible  mystery.  For  the  body  is  washed  with  water, 
the  sins  of  the  soul  are  cleansed  by  the  Spirit.  It  is  one  thing  we  do, 
another  we  pray  for  ;  although  in  the  very  font  the  hallowing  of  the 
Divinity  be  at  hand.  For  not  all  water  cleanses,  but  these  cannot  be 
separated  ;  and  therefore  the  Baptism  of  repentance  was  one  thing, 
that  of  grace  another.  This  consists  of  both,  that  of  one  only;  for 
since  the  sins  of  mind  and  body  are  common,  so  ought  also  to  be  the 
purification.  And  well  did  the  holy  John,  signifying  that  he  under- 
stood what  they  thought '  in  their  hearts,'  not  by  word,  but  by  deed, 
declare  that  he  was  '  not  the  Christ.'  For  it  is  the  work  of  men  to 
bear  repentance  of  sins  ;  it  is  the  gift  of  God  to  fulfil  the  grace  of 
the  mystery."  And  so  St.  Chrysostome,:}:  "  Having  first  laid  down 
the  lowliness  of  his  own  Baptism,  and  shown  that  it  hath  no  more 
power  than  to  lead  man  to  repentance  ;  for  he  saith  not,  '  with  water 
of  remission,'  but  '  of  repentance  ;'  then  he  sets  forth  His,  full  of  the 
unspeakable  gift.  For  lest  when  you  hear  that  He  '  cometh  after 
me,'  you  should  despise  Him,  learn  the  might  of  His  gift,  and  you 
will  know  clearly  that  I  have  said  nothing  worthy  or  great  when  I 
say  that  I  '  am  not  worthy  to  unloose  the  latchet  of  His  shoe.'  So 
when  you  hear  that  He  is  '  mightier  than  I,'  think  not  that  I  say  this 
by  comparison.  For  I  am  not  even  worthy  to  be  ranked  among 
His  slaves,  nay  not  his  meanest  slaves,  nor  to  obtain  the  lowest  office 
of  ministry  ;  wherefore  he  says  not  simply  '  shoes,'  but  not  even  the 

*  Luke  iii.  15. 

I  In  Luc.  L.  2.  5  79.  J  Horn.  xi.  in  Matt.  5  4.  p.  154.  ed  Ben. 


195 

*latchet,'  which  is  the  meanest  of  all.  Then,  lest  you  should  think 
his  words  the  mere  words  of  humility,  he  adds  the  proof /rom  tJie 
facts  ;  for  He,  saith  he,  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  fireT 

This  difference  our  Lord  also  inculcated,  at  the  same  time 
that  He  instituted  His  own  Baptism,  "  John  indeed  baptized  with 
water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days 
hence."* 

Having  thus  our  Lord's  own  words,  no  further  proof  can  be  neces- 
sary ;  but  here  again  the  teaching  of  Holy  Scripture,  in  its  plain 
meaning,  is  attested  by  one  remarkable  history  in  the  Acts,  that  of 
the  twelve  disciples  at  Ephesus,  who  had  been  "baptized  into  John's 
baptism."t  The  fact  that  St.  Paul  requiied  Christian  Baptism  to  be 
given,  as  necessary  to  them,  who  had  already  received  the  Baptism  of 
John,  at  once  separates  altogether  the  two  Baptisms,  and  shows  in- 
controvertibly  their  essential  difference,  and  the  imperfection  of  that 
of  John,  There  is  but  "  one  Baptism,"  any  more  than  "  one  God," 
and  "  one  Lord."  Had  then  these  men  laefore  received  Christian 
Baptism,  or  had  the  Baptism  of  John  been  the  same  with  the  Bap- 
tism of  Christ,  St,  Paul  had  not  had  been  baptized.  And  this, 
which  is  contained  in  the  very  fact  of  St.  Paul's  causing  them  to  be 
baptized,  appears  also  in  the  terms  employed.  As  the  authors  of  the 
Baptisms  were  different,  so  also  were  the  objects.  The  baptism  of 
John  was  "  into  John's  Baptism,"  though  with  the  belief  in  Him  who 
should  come  after  ;  the  Baptism  of  Christ  is  into  the  Holy  Trinity, 
These  men  had  been  baptized  unto  John,  as  Israel  was  "  baptized 
unto  Moses."!  John  Baptist  and  Moses  both  pointed  on  "to  Him  who 
was  to  come  ;"  Moses  to  the  "  Prophet  like  unto  himself,  to  whom 
they  were  to  hearken,"  John  to  Him  "  who  was  among  them,  whom 
they  knew  not."  Both  appealed  to  this  Prophet  as  higher  than  them- 
selves, ("  to  Him"!'  were  they  to  "  hearken,"  and  to  Moses  no  longer, 
except  as  "speaking  of  Him;")  yet  both  kept  those  baptized  unto 
them  for  the  while  detained  with  themselves,  their  belief  in  suspense, 
as  it  were,  and  undefined,  until  He  that  was  "  coming  should  come." 
The  Jewish  people,  or  those  whom  John  baptized,  were,  for  the 
time,  disciples  of  Moses  and  of  John,  to  whom  they  had  been  bap- 
tized, not  of  Christ.  But  when  the  Redemption  was  accomplished, 
and  Christ  had  "ascended"  into  heaven  to  "  give  gifts  unto  men," 
then  it  became  part  of  the  faith  in  Him,  to  be  baptized  into 
Him  ;  and  being  baptized  into  Him,  they  became  partakers  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  into  whom,  with  Him  and  the  Father,  they  were 
baptized.  "  Vnto  what  (^'^  '"0  were  ye  baptized  ?  They  said,  Unto 
("0  John's  Baptism.  Then  said  Paul,  John  verily  baptized  with  a 
Baptism  of  repentance,  saying  to  the  people,  that  they  should  believe 
on  Him  who  was  coming  after  him,  that  is,  on  Christ  Jesus.     When 

*  Acts  i.  11.  t  Acts  xix.  1.  \\  Cor.  x.  2. 


196 

they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized  into  (^'O  the  Name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  They  had  previously  been  baptized  unto  John  by  "  a  Bap- 
tisna  of  repentance  :"  and  were  sharers  with  the  austere  Baptist,  the 
type  and  model  of  repentance,  and  with  him  looked  on  to  "Him  who 
should  come,"  whom  as  yet  they  knew  not ;  now  they  were  baptized 
into  the  Lord,  and  became  sharers  with  the  Lord,  and  were  baptized 
not  with  a  "  baptism  of  repentance"  only,  bu.t  of  life,  as  being  bap- 
tized unto  and  made  partakers  of  the  life-giving  Spirit.  So  then  the 
two  Baptisms  could  scarcely  be  made  more  distinct ;  the  one,  the 
Baptism  of  John  ;  the  other,  by  whatsoever  human  agent  adminis- 
tered, uniformly  and  equally,  the  Baptism  of  the  Lord  :  the  one,  the 
Baptism  of  repentance,  looking  onward  only  to  One  coming,  who 
should  remit  sins  ;  the  other,  the  Baptism  into  Him,  who  remitteth 
them,  into  His  own  saving,  all  prevailing  Name  :  the  one,  the  Bap- 
tism to  John's  Baptism  ;  the  other,  the  Baptism  into  the  Holy  Tri- 
nity :  the  one,  a  Baptism,  in  which  they  "  knew  not  whether  there 
be  any  Holy  Ghost ;"  the  other,  a  Baptism,  in  which  "  the  Holy 
Ghost  came  upon  them,"  and  dwelt  in  them,  and  manifested  His  pre- 
sence within  them. 

This  absence  of  any  spiritual  gift  in  John's  Baptism  coincides 
also  with  other  declarations  of  our  Lord,  and  with  the  order  of  the 
Divine  dispensation,  whereby  the  descent  of  the  Hply  Ghost  is  seen 
to  be  dependent  upon  the  completion  of  our  Redemption  and  the 
Ascension  of  our  redeeming  Lord.  "  The*  Holy  Ghost  was  not 
yet  [given,]  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified." 

The  Baptism  of  John,  then,  could  not  impart  the  Holy  Ghost, 
even  on  that  ground,  that  it  was  administered  while  our  Lord  was 
yet  in  the  flesh,  before  the  Atonement  had  been  made  or  the  world 
cleansed  for  His  indwelling.  As  yet  He  dwelt  in  our  Lord's  human 
natiure  alone,  veiled  there,  though  giving  indications  of  His  measmre- 
less  Presence  to  those  nearest  to  Him  :  thence  to  expand,  after  the 
Ascension,  and  to  dwell  in  His  whole  body,  the  Church.  And  so 
whether  we  are  considering  the  greatness  of  our  Saviour's  gifts,  or 
the  inferiority  of  those  ordinances  which  prepared  for  Him,  stood 
even  at  the  very  threshold  of  His  coming,  yea,  evened  the  way  for 
His  feet,  made  man's  rugged  heart  plain,  and  his  crooked  ways 
straight,  and,  by  the  hard  and  shattering  preaching  of  repentance, 
*'  prepared  in  the  desert  a  high  way  for  our  God,"  we  are  brought 
every  way  to  the  same  result,  to  see  how  all  our  gifts  derive  their 
fulness  from  His  Licamation  and  meritorious  Cross  and  Passion, 
how  that  precious  Death  infuses  life  into  every  thing,  as  into  us, 
leaving  them  no  longer  to  be  beggarly  elements,  but  changing  rites 
into  sacraments,  shadows  into  substance,  significance   into  power, 

*  John  vii.  39' 


197 

the  washing  of  the  body  into  the  cleansing  of  soul  and  body   in 
Him. 

This  was  vividly  felt  by  the  ancient  Church.     Thus  Tertullian, 
who  touches  also  in  his  nervous  way  upon  the  several  points  which 
mark  the  inferiority  of  John's   Baptism.*     "  Whether  the    Baptism 
of  John  was  from  heaven  or  of  earth,  the  Pharisees  could  give  no 
certain  answer,  as  understanding  not,  because  they  believed  not. — 
We,  for  our  small  portion  of  understanding  proportioned  to  our  small 
faith,  may  account,  that  that  Baptism  was  Divine,  but  by  command, 
not  in  power,  in  that  we  read  that  John  was  sent  by  the  Lord  for  this 
office,  in  its  condition  it  was  human.     Foi  it  imparted  nothing  hea- 
venly,  but  foreministered  to  heavenly  things,  appointed  to  preside 
over   repentance,  which  is  in  man's  power. — But  if  repentance  be 
something  human,  the  Baptism  of  repentance  must  needs   be  the 
same  ;  or,  had  it  been  heavenly,  it  would  give  both  the  Holy  Spirit 
and   remission  of  sins.     But  no  one   either  remits  sins,  or  bestows 
the   Holy  Spirit  but  God  only.     Even  the  Lord  Himself  said  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  would  not  descend,  unless  he  first  ascended  to  the 
Father.     What  the  Lord  bestowed  not  as  yet,  should  a  servant  be 
able  to  bestow  ?     So  then   afterwards,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
we  find  that  they  wdio  had  the  Baptism  of  John,  had  not  received  the 
Holy  Spirit,  whom  they  knew  not  of  even  by  hearsay.   That  then  was 
not  heavenly,  which  gave  not  things  heavenly. — It  was  then  a  Bap- 
tism of  repentance,  as  it  were  a  candidate  for  remission  and  sanctifi- 
cation,  which  was  to  follow  in  Christ.     For  that  he  '  preached  a  Bap- 
tism of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins,'  this  means  '  for  a  re- 
mission to  come.'     Liasniuch  as  repentance  goes  before,  remission 
follows  after  ;  and  this  is  to  'prepare  the  way  ;'  but  he  who  prepar- 
eth,  does  not  also  perfect,  but  ministers  in  what  is  to  be  perfected  by 
another.     Himself  professes  that  not  his,  but  Christ's,  were  the  hea 
venly  things,  in  that  he  says,  '  He  who  is  of  the  earth,  speaketh  of 
the  earth  ;  He  who  cometh  from  above,  is  above  all.'     Also  that  he 
baptized  to  repentance  only,  that  He  should  soon  come  who  should 
'  baptize  with  the  Spirit  and  with  fire.'     Let  it  not  disturb  any,  that 
He  Himself  baptized   not.     For  whereto  should  He  baptize  ?     To 
repentance  ?     To  what  end  then  His  forerunner  ?     To  remission  of 
sins  ?  which  He  gave  with  a  word  !  to  Himself  ?  Whom  in  humility 
He  concealed  ?  To  the  Holy   Spirit  ?     Who  had  not  yei  descended 
from  the  Father  !  Into  the  Church  ?  which  the  Apostles  had  not  yet 
founded  !     So  then  His  disciples  baptized,  as  ministers,  as  did  John 
before  as  forerunner,  with  the  same  Baptism  of  John,  and  no  other, 
since  there  is  no  other  but  that  afterwardsof  Christ,  which  could  not  yet 
be  given  by  the  disciples,  inasmuch  as  the  glory  of  the  Lord  was 
not  yet  completed,  nor  the  efficacy  of  the  batli  provided  through  the 

*  De  Bapt.  c.  10,  11.  p.  227,  ed  Prior. 


198 

Passion  and  Resurrectio?!,  because  neither  could  our  deatli  be  de- 
stroyed but  by  the  Passion  of  the  Lord,  nor  Hfe  be  restored  without 
His  Resvirrection."  In  hke  way  also  Firmilian  ;*  "  Let  them  con- 
sider and  understand  that  there  cannot  be  a  spiritual  birth  without 
the  Spirit ;  and  so  the  blessed  Apostle  Paul  baptized  anew  with  a 
spiritual  Baptism  those  who  had  been  baptized  by  John  before  the 
Spirit  was  sent  by  the  Lord  ;  and  not  till  then  did  he  lay  his  hands 
upon  them  that  they  might  receive  the  Holy  Spirit."  And  St.  Hil- 
ary connects  the  peculiarity  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ  with  His  power 
to  save.f  "  And  because  the  operation  of  the  law  was  now  ineffec- 
tual to  salvation,  and  John  had  been  a  messenger  to  them,  who  were 
to  be  baptized  to  repentance,  (for  it  ivas  the  office  of  the  Prophets  to 
recal  from  sins,  but  it  loas  peculiar  to  Christ  to  save  those  who  be- 
lieve,) he  saith  that  he  indeed  baptized  to  repentance,  but  that  One 
mightier  was  to  come,  of  the  office  of  bearing  whose  shoe  he  was 
unworthy,  leaving  the  glory  of  bearing  about  that  preaching  to  the 
Apostles,  to  whose  '  beautiful  feet'  it  was  allotted  to  '  bear  the  tidings 
of  the  peace'  of  God."  St.  Jerome  likewise  accounts  for  the  imper- 
fectness  of  John's  Baptism,  in  that  it  was  unconnected  with  the  Pas- 
sion and  Resurrection  of  the  Lord.  "  Hear|  what  the  Scriptures 
teach.  The  Baptism  of  John  did  not  so  much  remit  sins  as  was  a 
Baptism  of  repentance  to  the  remission  of  sins,  i.  e.  to  a  future  re- 
mission which  vv^as  to  follow  through  the  sanctification  of  Christ. — 
For  as  he  before  w^as  the  precursor  of  the  Lord,  so  was  his  Baptism 
also  preparatory  to  the  Baptism  of  the  Lord.  'He  who  is  of  the 
earth,'  he  said,  '  speaketh  earthly  things ;  He  who  cometh  from 
above  is  above  all.'  And  again,  '  I  baptize  you  in  water ;  He 
shall  baptize  in  the  Spirit.'  But  if  John,  as  himself  confesses,  did 
not  '  baptize  in  the  Spirit,'  neither,  consequently,  did  he  remit  sins, 
because  sins  are  remitted  to  none  without  the  Holy  Spirit.  Or  if 
you  argue  contentiously  that  John's  Baptism  therefore  remitted  sins, 
because  it  was  from  heaven,  tell  me  what  more  we  obtain  from  the 
Baptism  of  Christ  ?  That  which  remits  sins,  frees  from  hell ;  what 
frees  from  hell  is  perfect.  But  no  other  can  be  called  perfect  Bap- 
tism than  that  which  is  in  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of  Christ. 
Thus,  whereas  John  himself  says,  '  He  must  increase,  but  I  must 
decrease  ;'  thou,  with  a  perverse  reverence,  ascribing  to  the  Bap- 
tism of  the  servant  more  than  it  had,  destroyest  that  of  the  Lord, 
leaving  nothing  especial  to  it. — But  the  Baptism  of  John  was  in  such 
degree  imperfect  that  it  is  certain  that  they  who  had  been  baptized 
by  him  were  afterwards  baptized  with  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  For 
so  the  history  relates,  (Acts  xix,  1,  &c.") 

*  Ep.  75.  ap.  Cyprian,  p.  145.  ed.  St.  Maur,  asan  argument  for  re-baptizing 
heretics. 

t  Jn  Matt.  c.  3.  {  4-  X  Adv.  Lucif.  }  7. 


199 

The  Ancient  Church  then  assigned  to  the  baptism  of  John  a  place, 
corresponding  to  the  rest  of  his  office,  partaking  of  the  character  of 
the  law,  nay,  in  one  sense,  a  personification  and  embodying  of  the 
law,  in  that  by  the  stern  preaching  of  repentance  he  "  was  their 
schoolmaster  to  lead  them  to  Christ,"  to  Whom  he  pointed,  but,  like 
the  law,  "  unable  to  make  any  thing  perfect."  The  baptism  of  John 
then  was  preparatory,  the  Baptism  of  Christ  perfective  ;  the  baptism 
of  John  invited  to  repentance,  the  Baptism  of  Christ  gave  grace 
upon  repentance  ;  the  baptism  of  John  stood  on  the  confines  of  the 
promised  land,  was  allowed  to  see  it,  led  men  to  the  borders  of  it, 
guided  them  to  it,  but  itself  brought  them  not  into  it ;  higher  than 
the  law,  as  he  whose  baptism  it  was,  was  greater  than  any  born  of 
the  sons  of  men,  yet  less  also  than  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven ;*  greater  than  the  Baptisms  of  the  law,  as  being  nearer  to  the 
Redeemer,  but  yet  restrained  within  the  precursorial  office,  still  a 
shadow  of  the  good  things  to  come,  not  the  reality  itself,  though 
brought  so  near  to  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  as  all  but  to  be  kindled 
with  His  beams  ;  as  all  but  to  convey  that  which  could  only  be  con- 
veyed by  Him,  in  whom  alone,  as  being  God  as  well  as  man,  we 
could  be  re-born  as  sons  of  God ;  who  alone  shed  His  precious 
Blood  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  and  in  Baptism  washes  and 
cleanses  His  Church  with  it. 

The  following  passages  from  the  Fathers  contain  and  enforce  the 
several  portions  of  the  above  view  :  for  the  sake  of  distinctness  they 
may  be  classified  under  difierent  heads,  but  all  agree  in  the  same 
general  result,  and  indeed,  though  classed  according  as  they  use 
prominently  the  one  or  other  argument,  speak  often  the  same 
things. 

Baptism  of  John  a  carrying  on  of  the  Office  of  the  Law. 

"  Neither!  repentance  avails  without  grace,  nor  grace  without 
repentance  ;  for  repentance  must  first  condemn  sin,  that  grace  may 
blot  it  out.  So  then  John,  becoming  a  type  of  the  Law,  baptized  to 
repentance,  Christ  to  grace." 

"  Yet  have  heard  it  read  this  day,  that  '  John  baptized  in  ^Enon, 
near  Salim.'     ^Enon  signifies  '  the  eye  of  punishment ;'  Salim,  '  as- 

*  "  He  shows  that  they  had  now  become  greater  than  John,  in  that  they  also 
should  baptize  with  the  Spirit." — Chrys.  in  Actt.  Horn.  1.  5  5.  p.  9. 

"  Lo  here  is  specially  fulfilled  that  '  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
greater  than  he.'  For  lo  !  the  last  called  of  the  Apostles,  Paul,  from  his  hands 
the  baptized  received  what  John  in  his  baptism  gave  not." — Scholion  ap. 
Cramer's  Catena  on  Acts  xix.  6. 

t  St.  Ambrose,  Ep.  26.  5  7.  col.  895.  ed  Ben. 

X  Id.  Prajf.  in  Ps.  37,  add  in  Ps.  118  \  19,  and  Jerome,  Ep.  fi9,  ad.  Ocean. 
•'■  The  forerunner  of  the  Lord,  in  tlie  waters  of  the  fountains  near  Salim,  which 
is  interpreted  'peace'  or  '  perfection,'  prepares  a  people  for  Christ." 


200 

cending ;'  so  it  is  interpreted.  Whoso,  then,  chooses  to  be  baptiz- 
ed, doth  it,  foreseeing  punishment,  and  therefore  flees  to  the  Sacra- 
ment of  Baptism,  that  he  may  lay  aside  all  sin,  and  so  not  be  ob- 
noxious to  punishment.  And  perchance  he  too  foresees  punishment 
who  is  baptized  with  the  '  Baptism  of  repentance  ;'  but  he  looks  to 
grace  who  is  baptized  in  Christ.  The  Baptism  then  of  John  is  the 
*  eye  of  punishment;'  the  Baptism  of  Christ  'the  eye  of  grace,' — 
Although  John  baptized  in  vEnon,  he  baptized  near  the  '  ascending' 
[Salim ;]  he  was  then  very  near  to  Christ,  who  announced  his 
coming.  For  the  Son  of  man  who  '  descended  from  heaven,  He  it 
is  also  who  ascended  into  heaven  that  He  might  fill  all  things.'  But 
because  '  as  is  the  heavenly,  such  also  are  the  heavenly,'  he  also  as- 
cendeth  into  heaven,  who,  laying  aside  things  earthly,  is  buried  to- 
gether m  Christ,  (in  Baptism,  Rom.  vi.,)  that  with  Christ  he  may  rise 
again  from  the  death  of  sin  to  newness  of  life  and  participation 
of  the  inheritance,  as  it  is  written,  '  heir  of  God,  joint  heir  with 
Christ.'  " 

"The*  discourse  with  Nicodemus  being  now  ended,  the  Divine 
Evangelist  joins  on  another  most  useful  relation.  For,  led  by  the 
light  of  the  Divine  Spirit  to  relate  the  things  whereof  was  chiefest 
need,  he  knew  that  it  would  be  exceedingly  useful  that  the  readers 
should  know  clearly,  how  great  was  the  superiority  of  the  Baptism 
of  Christ  above  that  of  John.  For  it  was  not  to  be  expected  but  that 
some  would  arise,  who,  for  lack  of  wisdom,  should  venture  to  say 
either  that  there  was  no  difference  between  them,  but  that  each  must 
be  honored  alike,  or  gliding  into  a  yet  more  boorish  ignorance,  take 
away  the  superiority  from  that  of  Christ,  and  shamelessly  ascribe  it 
to  that  of  water. — In  that  he  baptized  not  in  the  same  fountains  as 
Christ,  but  near  Salim,  and  in  some  of  the  neighboring  fountains 
around,  he  pointed  out  in  a  way  the  difference  of  the  Baptisms, 
showing,  as  in  a  figure,  that  his  Baptism  is  not  the  same  as  that  from 
our  Saviour  Christ,  yet  was  near  it,  and  around  it,  bringing  in  a  sort 
of  preparation  and  introduction  of  the  more  perfect.  As  then  the 
law  also  by  Moses  is  said  to  '  have  a  shadow  of  the  good  things  to 
come,  not  the  very  image  of  the  things'  (for  the  Mosaic  letter  is  a 
sort  of  previous  exercise  and  instruction  introductory  to  the  worship 
in  spirit,  and  travailing  with  the  truth  which  lay  secretly  within,)  so 
also  you  will  perceive  in  the  Baptism  to  repentance." 

Baptism  of  John  higher  than  Jewish  rites,  hut  imperfect. 

"  Thet  Apostle  says,  '  Whosoever  of  us  have  been  baptized  in 
Christ  Jesus.'  He  saith  then  that  our' Baptism  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
But  Christ  Himself  is  related  to  have  been  baptized  by  Jolin,  no3 

*  Cyril.  Alex,  in  Joh.  iii.  22. 

t  Orig.  in  Ep.  ad  Rom.  L.  5.  \  8.  p.  561. 


201 

with  that  Baptism  which  is  in  Christ,  but  with  that  which  is  in  the 
law.  For  so  Himself  also  says  to  John,  '  Suffer  now,  for  so  it  be- 
cometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness.'  Wherein  He  shows  that  the 
Baptism  of  John  is  the  completion  of  the  old,  not  the  beginning  of 
the  new." 

"  The*  multitude  went  out,  not  to  hear  what  he  said,  but  for 
what  ?  '  To  be  baptized,  confessing  their  sins.'  But,  when  come, 
they  were  taught  the  things  of  Christ,  and  the  differences  of  the 
Baptism.  Yet  was  it  more  solemn  than  the  Jewish  Baptism,  and 
therefore  all  pressed  to  it ;  yet  even  thus  it  was  imperfect." 

"  Het  said  not  the  Baptism  of  John  is  nothing,  but  that  it  is  imper- 
fect ;  nor  did  he  add  this  without  reason,  but  in  order  to  teach  and 
persuade  them  to  be  baptized  unto  the  Name  of  Jesus,  which  also 
they  do,  and  receive  the  Spirit  through  the  laying  on  of  Paul's  hands.'* 

"Mosesj:  baptized,  but  with  water,  and  before  this,  in  the  cloud 
and  in  the  sea  ;  but  this  was  typically,  as  Paul  also  pronounces  the 
sea  a  type  of  the  water ;  the  cloud,  of  the  Spirit ;  the  manna,  of  the 
bread  of  life  ;  the  drnik,  of  the  Divine  draught.  John  also  baptized, 
and  he  no  longer  Judaically,  for  he  baptized  not  with  water  only,  but 
'to  repentance  ;'  but  not  as  yet  altogether  spiritually,  for  it  addeth 
not  'with  the  Spirit.'  Jesus  also  baptizeth,  but  with  the  Spirit.  This 
is  its  perfection." 

"  But^  since  your  piety  hath  demanded  of  us  an  account  of  the 
most  amazing  Baptism  of  the  Gospel,  I  think  it  in  harmony  with 
what  has  been  above  said  on  the  '  kingdom  of  heaven,'  that  we 
should  observe  briefly  the  difference  between  Moses'  baptism  and 
that  of  John,  and  then,  by  the  grace  of  God,  we  shall  be  fit  to  per- 
ceive the  surpassing  wondrousness  in  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  incomparable  exceedingnes?  of  glory.  For  the  Only- 
Begotten  Son  of  the  Living  God  declared  that  there  was  here  what 
was  '  greater  than  the  temple,'  '  greater  than  Solomon,' '  greater  than 
Jonas.'  And  the  Apostle  having  related  the  glory  of  Moses  in  the 
ministry  of  the  law,  to  the  Jews  inapproachable,  testifieth  subjoin- 
ing, '  for  that  which  was  glorified  had  no  glory  in  this  respect,  on  ac- 
count of  the  glory  which  excelleth ;'  and  John  the  Baptist,  than 
whom  '  no  one  was  greater  among  those  born  of  v/oman,'  testifieth, 
saying,  at  one  time,  that  '  He  must  increase,  and  I  must  decrease,' 
at  another,  '  I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repentance, 
but  He  baptizeth  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,'  and 
many  like  things.  For  by  how  much  the  Holy  Ghost  is  more 
excellent  than  water,  by  so    much  plainly    is  He    who   baptizeth 

*  Chrys.  Horn-  17.  (al.  16.)  in  Joh.  5  2.  p.  98. 

t  Id.  Horn.  40.  in  Actt.  5  1. 

+  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.  39  (in  S.  Lumina,)  5  17.  p.  688.  ed.  Ben. 

^  Auct.  de  Bapt.  L.  1.  c.  5.  ap.  S.  Basil.  0pp.  t.  2.  p.  633.  ed.  Ben. 


202 

with  the  Holy  Spirit  than  he  who  baptizeth  with  water,  and  the 
Baptism  itself;  so  that  John  himself  being  such  and  so  great,  and 
having  such  witness  from  the  Lord,  said  unashamed,  '  1  am  not 
worthy  to  unloose  the  latchet  of  His  shoe.'  From  all  this  the  ex- 
ceeding excellence  of  the  Baptism  according  to  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  is  plain,  which,  though  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  as 
it  deserves,  it  is  pious  and  useful  to  speak  of,  as  one  is  able  and 
enabled  by  God,  out  of  Scripture  itself.  The  baptism  then  de- 
livered by  Moses,  first  of  all  recognized  a  difference  of  sins,  for 
all  sins  had  not  the  gift  of  remission ;  then  it  required  divers  sac- 
rifices ;  was  very  precise  about  purifying  ;  separated  for  a  time 
him  who  was  in  defilement ;  observed  times  and  seasons  ;  and 
then  received  baptisn),  as  a  seal  of  cleansing.  But  the  baptism 
of  John  had  manifold  more.  For  it  made  no  distinction  of  sins, 
required  no  difference  of  sacrifices,  no  accuracy  of  purification,  no 
observance  of  days  or  seasons  ;  but  without  any  delay  a  man  came 
to  the  grace  of  God  and  His  Christ,  confessing  his  sins,  of  whatever 
kind  and  magnitude  they  might  be,  and  immediately  received  remis- 
sion of  sins.  But  the  Baptism  of  the  Lord  hath  a  value  far  above  all 
human  [baptism,]  and  a  glory  high  above  all  human  desire  and 
prayer,  and  an  exceedingness  of  grace  and  power  more  than  the  sun 
is  superior  to  the  stars." 

"  As*  we  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  the  saving  and  new,  i.  e, 
the  spiritual  and  evangelical  Baptism,  the  first  presents  itself  the 
well-known  preaching  begun  by  John  the  Baptist,  who  departing  a 
little  from  the  law,  i.  e.  from  the  oldest  baptism  of  Moses,  and  pav- 
ing the  way  for  the  new  and  true  grace,  by  the  baptism  which  mean- 
time he  used  of  water  and  repentance  gradually  prepared  and  accus- 
tomed the  Jews  to  hear  of  the  future  spiritual  Baptism  which  he  an- 
nounced, 'He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire.' 
— The  Lord  alsoconfirmed  these  same  words  of  John  after  His  Re- 
surrection (Acts  i.)  And  Peter  also  rehearsed  these  same  words  of 
the  Lord,  giving  account  of  himself  in  presence  of  the  Apostles 
(Acts  vi.,)  and  again  (Acts  xv.") 

Preparatory  and  Initiatory  to  the  Gospel. 

"  '  It  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repentance,'  as  it  were  cleans- 
ing and  turning  you  from  evil  things,  and  inviting  you  to  repentance, 
for  I  am  come  '  to  make  ready  for  the  Lord  a  prepared  people,'  and, 
through  the  baptism  of  repentance,  to  make  ready  a  place  for  Him 
Who  shall  '  come  after  me,'  and  therefore  shall  benefit  you  much 
more  mightily  and  excellently  than  I  can,  for  His  Baptism  is  not 
for  the  body  only,  but  the   Holy  Spirit  filleth  the   repentant,  and  a 

*  Lib.  de  Rebapt-  ap.  Cypr.  p.  354. 
t  Orig.  in  Job.  t.  6.  \  17.  p.  132. 


203 

diviner  fire  consumeth  all  material  and  exhausteth  all  earthly,  not 
only  from  him  who  has  received  it,  but  also  from  him  who  heareth 
those  who  have  it,"  [i.  e.  not  the  first  disciples  only,  but  their  suc- 
cessors.] 

"  Purposing*  to  baptize  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  fire,  He,  by 
John,  sent  before  Him  the  mysterious  images  [sacramenta]  of  His 
Baptism." 

"  Johnf  preached  the  baptism  of  repentance,  and  all  Judea  went 
out  to  him.  The  Lord  preacheth  the  Baptism  of  adoption  of  sons, 
and  which  of  those  that  hope  in  him  will  not  obey  ?  That  baptism 
was  introductory  ;  this  perfective  :  that,  departure  from  sins  ;  this, 
union  with  God." 

"  IfX  any  ask  whether  the  Baptism  of  the  disciples"  [while  our 
Lord  was  on  earth]  "  had  any  thing  more  than  that  of  John,  I  would 
say  nothing ;  for  both  of  them  were  destitute  of  the  grace  of  the 
Spirit,  and  both  had  one  object  in  baptizing,  to  bring  the  baptized  to 
Christ. 

"Immediately^  on  Baptism,  they  [the  12  at  Antioch]  prophesied. 
This  the  baptism  of  John  had  not,  wherefore  also  it  was  imperfect. 
But  that  they  might  be  fitted  for  such  things,  his  office  rather  was  to 
prepare  them  beforehand.  So  that  this  was  the  very  object  of  John 
in  baptizing,  '  that  they  should  believe  in'Him  Who  is  coming  after 
him.'  Hence  appears  that  great  doctrine,  that  they  who  are  baptiz- 
ed are  perfectly  purified  from  sins.  For  if  they  were  not  purified, 
they  could  not  have  received  the  Spirit,  nor  had  the  gifts  forthwith 
vouchsafed  to  them.  Consider,  too,  that  the  gift  was  two-fold,  both 
tongues  and  prophesying.  And  well  did  he  call  John's  baptism  *  a 
baptism  of  repentance,'  and  not  '  of  remission,'  leading  them  on  and 
persuading  them  that  it  was  destitute  of  it.  For  remission  was  the 
operation  of  that  subsequently  given." 

"  The!  Baptism  of  John  was  the  introduction  to  the  Gospel  [good 
tidings]  of  grace  ;  wherefore  also  it  was  not  above  the  law  ;  since 
neither  could  those  who  had  sinned  against  the  law,  in  this  receive 
forgiveness  of  sins  through  repentance  and  faith  in  Christ." 

"  TheyTF  were  not  born  again  who  were  baptized  with  the  baptism 
of  John,  by  whom  Christ  also  was  baptized,  but  by  a  sort  of  precur- 
sory office  of  him  who  said,  '  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,'  they 
were  prepared  for  Hira  in  Whom  Alone  they  could  be  re-born. 
For  His  Baptism  was  not  '  in  water'  only,  as  was  John's,  but  also 
'  in  the  Holy  Spirit :'  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Christ  may  be  re- 

*  Ambr.  de  Poenit.  c  8.  5  34. 

t  S.  Bas.  in  S.  Bapt.  5  1.  T.  2.  p.  114. 

t  Chrys.  in  Joh.  29.  al.  28.  5  1.  p.  165. 

^  Id.  in  Actt.  Horn.  40.  J  2.  p.  304. 

!|  Quasst.  et  respons.  ad  Orth.  ap.  Justin.  M.  Resp.  37. 

•il  S.  Aug.  J'lnchirid.  c.  49. 


204 

born  of  that  Spirit,  of  Whom  Christ  being  born,  needed  not  to  be  re- 
born." 

"  Those*  who  have  been  baptized  with  the  Baptism  of  John  were 
baptized  by  Paul  on  no  other  ground  than  that  the  baptism  of 
John  was  not  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  but  given  to  John  by  Christ, 
so  as  properly  to  be  called  John's  baptism.  John  received,  by  a 
certain  dispensation,  not  to  abide,  but  so  far  as  was  necessary, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Lord,  Whose  precursor  he  was  to  be. 
To  none  of  the  Prophets,  to  no  man  do  we  read  in  the  Divine 
Scriptures  was  it  given  to  baptize  with  water  of  repentance  to  re- 
mission of  sin,  which  was  given  to  John,  that  from  the  wondrous 
grace,  the  hearts  of  the  people  hanging  upon  him,  he  might  pre- 
pare in  them  a  way  for  Him,  Whom  he  declared  to  be  so  much 
greater  than  himself.  But  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  '  cleanses  the 
Church'  with  a  Baptism  of  such  sort,  as  that  after  it  has  been 
received,  no  other  should  be  required  ;  but  John  fore-baptized  with 
one  of  such  sort,  that  after  it  had  been  received,  the  Baptism  of  the 
Lord  was  also  necessary  ;  not  that  it  should  be  repeated,  but  that  to 
those  who  had  received  the  baptism  of  John  should  be  given  the 
Baptism  of  Christ  also,  for  Whom  he  prepared  the  way.  Except  to 
show  forth  the  humility  of  Christ  [in  receiving  it,]  the  baptism  of 
John  had  not  been  needed  :  again,  had  the  end  been  in  John,  then 
after  John's  baptism  had  been  no  need  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ. 
But  because  '  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  to  every  one  that  believ- 
eth,'  John  pointed  out  to  Whom  they  must  go  ;  there  to  abide,  when 
arrived  at  Him.  Had  John  baptized  only  Christ,  John  had  been 
thought  the  dispenser  of  a  better  Baptism  (in  that  Christ  Himself 
alone  was  baptized  with  it)  than  Christ's  wherewith  Christians  are 
baptized  :  and  again,  must  all  be  baptized  first  with  the  baptism 
of  John  and  then  with  Christ's,  the  Baptism  of  Christ  had  of  ne- 
cessity appeared  less  full  and  perfect,  as  not  sufficing  alone  to  sal- 
vation." 

"  Knowf  they  that  the  grace  and  the  ground  of  John's  baptism 
was  other  [than  the  Christian,]  nor  did  it  appertain  to  that  virtue, 
whereby,  through  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  are  re-born,  of  whom  it  is 
said  '  who  were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God.'  For  as  the  Old  Testament  is  an  attes- 
tation of  the  New,  and  '  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and 
truth  were  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ,'  as  divers  sacrifices  prefigured 
One  Victim,  and  the  slaying  of  many  lambs  was  ended  by  His  immo- 
lation, of  Whom  it  is  said  '  behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  behold  Him 
Who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,'  so  also  John  being  not 
Christ,  but  the  precursor  of  Christ ;  not  '  the  Bridegroom,'  but  '  the 

*  Id.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donat.  v.  9. 

t  Leo.  Ep.  16.  [al.  4.]  ad  Episc.  Sic.  c.  6, 


205 

friend  of  the  Bridegroom,'  was  so  faithful,  *  seeking  not  his  own,  but 
the  things  of  Jesus  Christ,'  as  to  profess  himself  *  unworthy  to  loose 
the  shoes  of  His  feet,'  since  he  '  baptized  in  water  to  repentance,' 
but  He  should  baptize  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  fire.  Who  by  a  two- 
fold power,  should  both  restore  life  and  consume  sin." 

"  John*  baptizeth  not  with  the  Spirit,  but  with  water  ;  because, 
imable  to  remit  sins,  he  washes  the  bodies  of  the  baptized  with 
water,  but  not  their  minds  with  forgiveness.  Why  then  doth  he 
baptize,  who  by  baptism  frees  not  from  sin,  except  that  maintaining 
the  order  of  his  precursorial  office,  he,  who  by  his  birth  had  gone 
before  His  Birth,  should  by  baptizing  also  go  before  the  Baptism  of 
the  Lord  ?  And  he  who  by  preaching  had  been  made  the  precursor 
of  Christ,  should  by  baptizing  also  be  His  precursor  through  the  im- 
age of  His  Sacrament." 

Itt  is  evident  to  all  readers,  that  John  not  only  preached  the  bap- 
tism of  repentance,  but  even  gave  it  to  some  ;  yet  could  he  not  give 
his  own  baptism  '  to  the  remission  of  sins.'  For  remission  of  sins 
is  given  us  only  in  the  Baptism  of  Christ.  That  then  is  to  be  ob- 
sen'ed  which  is  said,  '  preaching  the  baptism  of  repentance  to  the 
remission  of  sins,'  because,  being  unable  to  give  a  baptism  '  to  the 
remission  of  sins,'  he  '  preached'  it :  that  as  he  was  the  precursor  of 
the  Incarnate  Word  of  the  Father  by  the  word  of  preaching,  so  by 
his  baptism,  whereby  sins  cannot  be  remitted,  he  might  be  the  pre- 
cursor of  that  Baptism  of  repentance,  whereby  sins  are  remitted  ; 
that  so,  inasmuch  as  his  word  went  before  the  Presence  of  the  Re- 
deemer, his  very  baptism  also  might  go  before,  and  become  a  shad- 
ow of  the  truth." 

"  The|  fourth  sort  of  baptism  was  that  of  John,  being  introducto- 
ry, and  leading  to  repentance  those  baptized,  that  they  might  believe 
in  Christ.  '  For  I,'  he  saith,  '  baptize  you  with  water,  but  He 
Who  Cometh  after  me.  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  fire.'  John  then  by  the  water  cleanses,  preparatory  for  the 
Spirit." 

Several  points  are  observable  in  these  passages;  1st,  as  to  the 
relation  of  this  teaching  of  the  Fathers  to  the  text  of  Scripture  ;  2nd, 
as  to  their  sense  of  the  dignity  of  their  Lord's  Baptism  ;  3rd,  as  to 
their  agreement  among  themselves  and  the  points  whereon  they 
differ. 

1st,  then,  they  keep  close  to  the  simple  meaning  of  Holy 
Scripture.     Their  view  is  founded  not  on  any  conclusions  of  human 

*  Greg.  Horn.  7.  in  Evang.  {  3.  t  Id.  Horn.  20.  in  Evang.  5  2. 

%  Joh.  Damascen.  de  Fide,  L.  5.  c.  9.  The  same  division  of  Baptism,  and 
the  same  distinction,  derived  from  Greek  sources,  occurs  in  Barhebraeus'  work 
on  Christian  doctrine.  See  the  Author's  analysis  of  it  in  Dr.  NicoH'a  Catal. 
MSS.  Arab.  Bibl.  Bodl.  ed  Pusey,  p.  460,  n.  b. 


206 

reasoning,  but  on  the  plain  facts  and  words  of  Scripture.  They 
dwell  chiefly  on  the  fact  that  those  baptized  with  John's  baptism 
were  by  St.  Paul  commanded  to  be  baptized  with  that  of  Christ, 
therefore  the  two  baptisms  could  not  be  the  same,  or  of  equal  value,* 
— or  on  John's  own  words,  that  his  baptism  was  with  water,  Christ's 
with  the  Spirit.  They  felt  the  difficulties  which  moderns  have  urg- 
ed, as,  "  if  John's  baptism  were  imperfect,  had  the  Apostles  only  an 
imperfect  baptism  ?"  but  they  preferred  to  say,  "  they  knew  not, 
what  they  did  not  know,"  than  to  bend  what  was  said  plainly,  in  or- 
der to  fit  in  with  what  was  left  obscure. 

2.  The  high  dignity  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  and  its  spiritual 
character  follows,  in  that  its  very  characteristic  is  that  it  is  "  with 
the  Spirit."  A  "  water-baptism"  (as  people  now  speak)  is  no  other 
than  the  baptism  of  the  forerunner  ;  that  which  makes  the  Baptism 
of  Christ  to  bo  what  it  is,  is  that  it  is  "■  the  Baptism  of  the  Spir- 
it." The  luiworthy  recipient  may,  like  Simon  Magus,  exclude  the 
Spirit,  or  receive  Him  to  destruction  ;  but  in  Christianity  there  is  no 
two-fold  Baptism,  no  separation,  except  in  thought,  between  the  out- 
ward form  and  the  inward  substance  ;  as  if  the  body  were  washed 
at  one  time  with  water,  the  soul,  at  another,  purified  by  the  Spirit ; 
or  as  if  the  water-baptism  were  but  an  outward  symbol  of  what  had 
been  previously,  or  might  be  subsequently,  bestowed  ;  "  water-bap- 
tism" was  but  around  the  Saviour,  was  but  a  shadow  of  the  substance 
which  He  had  and  gave,  sent  before  his  face  to  prepare  the  way  be- 
fore Him,  a  type  and  image  of  His  gift.  "  Water-baptism"  was  in- 
deed (as  moderns  speak)  an  emblem  of  the  Baptism  of  the  Spirit, 
but  it  w  so  no  more  ;  "the  shadowsf  fled  away  when"  the  "day 
broke  :"  the  baptism  of  John  was  an  image  of  the  Baptism  of  their 
Lord,  of  Him  who  was  to  come  ;  but,  now  that  He  is  come,  and  hath 
left  His  Spirit  with  the  Church,  their  Lord's  Baptism  is  no  empty 
unsubstantial  shadow  of  something  still  future  and  distinct  from  it,  as 
though  He  also  baptized  to  One  "  who  should  come  after,"  or  as  if 
the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  were  different  from  His. 

*  "  Paul  gave  the  Baptism  of  Christ  to  men,  because  they  had  not  the  Bap- 
tism of  Christ,  but  the  baptism  of  John,  (as  themselves  answered,)  which  does 
not  pertain  to  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  nor  is  any  part  or  degree  of  it ;  otherwise, 
either  the  water  of  Christ's  Baptism  was  then  repeated,  or  if  the  Baptism  of 
Christ  was  then  perfected  by  two  baptizings  in  water,  it  is  less  perfect  now, 
because  that  which  was  given  by  John  is  not  given;  either  of  which  were  im- 
pious and  profane  to  think.  Paul  then  gave  the  Baptism  of  Christ  to  those 
who  had  not  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  but  of  John.  But  why  the  Baptism  of 
John  was  then  necessary,  which  now  is  not,  does  not  belong  to  this  question, 
except  only  that  it  appears  that  the  Baptism  of  John  was  one,  that  of  Christ 
another  ;  as  was  that  baptism  another,  in  which  the  Apostle  says,  'our  fathers 
were  baptized  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea,'  when  by  Moses  they  passed  through 
the  Red  Sea."— Aug.  in  litt.  Petil.  L.  2.  c.  37. 

t  Cant.  2.  17. 


207 

"  This  Baptism,"  says  St.  Chrysosteme,*  "  alone  has  the  grace  of 
the  Spirit ;  that  of  John  was  void  of  the  gift." 

"  The  difference  between  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  baptism 
of  water,"  says  St.  Basil,!  "  may  be  understood  from  this  also,  that 
John  Baptized  with  water  to  repentance,  but  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
with  the  Holy  Spirit ;  '  I  indeed,'  he  saith,  '  baptize  you  with  water,' 
&c." 

"  John,"  says  St.  Ambrose,^  "  baptized  with  water,  Christ  with 
the  Spirit." 

And  Origen,^  "  This  also  must  be  noted,  that  the  baptism  of  John 
was  inferior  to  the  Baptism  of  Jesus  given  by  His  disciples.  Thus 
they  who  in  the  Acts  were  '  baptized  unto  the  baptism  of  John,'  not 
having  even  '  heard  whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost,'  are  baptized 
a  second  time  by  the  Apostle.  For  regeneration  took  place  not  with 
John,  but  with  Jesus,  through  His  disciples,  and  that  which  is  called 
*  the  bath  of  regeneration,'  which  takes  place  with  '  renewal  of  the 
Spirit,'  Who  now  also  is  '  borne  above  the  water,'  being  from  God, 
'  though  He  doth  not  enter  into  all  after  the  water,"  [i.  e.  not  upon 
such  as  come  hypocritically.] 

And  St.  Jerome, II  "  They  who  had  received  John's  baptism,  be- 
cause they  knew  not  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  baptized  again,  lest  any 
should  think  that  the  water,  without  the  Holy  Spirit,  could  suffice  to 
Jews  and  Gentiles  to  salvation." 

This  peculiar  gift  of  the  Spirit  in  Christian  Baptism  again  was  in 
their  minds  connected  with  their  Lord's  commission  to  baptize  ;  and 
the  baptism  of  John  must  needs  be  defective,  because  he  had  receiv- 
ed no  title  to  baptize  in  the  Name  of  the  Trinity.  Thus  St.  Jerome, TT 
"  Whosoever  saith  that  he  believeth  in  Christ,  not  believing  in  the 
Holy  Spirit,  hath  not  the  eyes  of  a  perfect  faith.  Whence  also  in 
the  Acts,  they  who  had  been  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  John  to 
Him  who  was  to  come,  i.  e.  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  because 
they  answered  Paul's  inquiry,  '  We  do  not  even  know  whether  there 
be  any  Holy  Ghost,'  are  baptized  again ;  rather,  receive  then  the 
true  Baptism,  because,  without  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  mystery  of 
the  Trinity,  whatever  is  received  into  Either  Person  is  imperfect." 
And  Ammonius,**  "  So  then  the  baptism  of  John  contained  an  invi- 
tation to  repentance  only,  not  to  remission  of  sin  also — so  that  the 
difference  of  the  baptism  of  John  and  that  of  believers  is  this,  that 
that  of  believers  gives  remission  of  sins  also.  John  when  baptizing 
said,  '  I  baptize  thee  to  Him  who  cometh  after  me,  and  require  thee 
to  believe  in  Him,  that  He  is  the  Lamb  of  God,'  but  he  who  baptiz- 

*  In  Matt.  Horn.  12.  5  3.  p.  164. 

t  De  Sp.  S.  c.  15.  X  In  Luc.  Lib.  10. 5  Ul . 

&  In  Joh.  t.  6.  5  17.  p.  133-4. 

II  Ep.  69.  ad  Ocean.  5  6.  ^  In  Joel,  c  2.  v.  28. 

**  In  Cramer's  Catena  on  Acts  xix.  5. 


208 

eth  according  to  the  Faith  says,  '  I  baptize  thee  into  the  Name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  'to  beheve  in  the  Con- 
substantial  Trinity,  both  cleansing  and  stripping  him  of  his  former 
way  of  worship,  and  clothing  him  anew  into  Christ,  and  clearly 
enouncing  the  Faith." 

3.  This  case  illustrates  how,  amid  subordinate  difference  of  opi- 
nion  there  may  be  and  is  substantial  agreement  in  the  ancient 
Church.  All  agree  in  this,  that  the  Baptism  of  their  Lord  was  unut- 
terably greater  than  that  of  St.  John,  and  that,  because  Scripture  had 
set  the  Baptism  of  the  Lord  so  far  above  that  of  the  servant ;  all 
agree  that  one  was  "  in  water,"  the  other  was  "  with  the  Spirit,"  be- 
cause the  letter  of  Scripture  so  testified ;  what  further  consequences 
this  involved,  was  matter  of  human  judgment,  and  each  decided  as 
he  thought  the  tenor  of  Scripture  led,  yet  without  interfering  with  this 
first  principle,  which  Scripture  had  clearly  stated.  Thus  the  one 
who  thought  that  without  the  Spirit  there  could  be  no  remission  of 
sins,  understood  the  words,  "  the  Baptism  of  repentance  to  the  re- 
mission of  sins,"  of  a  future  remission,*  which  they  were  to  obtain  in 
Him  to  whom  this  "  Baptism  of  repentance"  guided  them,  and  so 
denied  that  the  Baptism  of  John  had  any  gift  of  grace :  anoiherf 
thought  that  it  gave  remission,  but  suspended  and  "  in  hope"  only, 
until  the  atoning  Sacrifice  was  completed,  and  themselves  made 
partakers  of  it :  others, |  on  the  contrary,  considering  that  the 
words,   "  to  remission   of  sins,"   went  more  naturally  to  express 

*  See  TurtuUian  above,  p.  197,  8,  Jerome,  p.  248.  Gregory,  p.  257.  So 
Theophylact  also  with  great  clearness,  in  Marc.  1.  "  The  baptism  of  John  had 
no  remission  of  sins,  but  only  brought  in  repentance  to  men  ;  how  then  saith 
Mark  here  'to  the  remission  of  sins'?'  We  say  then  that  he  'preached  the 
baptism  of  repentance  ;'  but  this  preaching  of  repentance,  whither  led  it  ?  to 
the  '  remission  of  sins,'  i.  e.  to  Christ's  Baptism  ;  as  when  we  say,  '  There 
came  an  attendant  on  the  king  proclaiming  the  preparation  of  food  for  the 
benefit  of  those  preparing  them,'  we  do  not  mean  that  '  the  attendant  is  to 
benefit  those  who  prepare  the  royal  food,'  but  that  he  proclaimed  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  food,  that  they  who  had  prepared  it,  having  received  the  king, 
might  be  benefited  by  him.  So  then  here  also  the  precursor  proclaimed  the 
baptism  of  repentance,  that  they  who  repented,  having  received  Christ,  might 
obtain  remission  of  sins." 

t  S.  Aug.  de  Bapt.  c.  Donat.  v.  10.  "  Wherefore  though  I  believe  that  John 
in  such  wise  baptized  '  in  water  of  repentance  to  remission  of  sins,'  that  sins 
were  *  in  hope'  remitted  to  those  baptized  by  him,  in  like  manner  as  the  resur- 
rection which  is  looked  for  at  the  end  is  wrought  in  us  in  hope,  as  the  Apos- 
tle saith,  '  because  He  hath  raised  us  together,  and  hath  made  us  sit  together 
in  heavenly  places,'  and  yet  he  also  says,  '  for  in  hope  we  have  been  saved.' 
For  John  himself  also,  when  he  saith,  '  I  indeed  baptize  you  in  water  to  re- 
pentance, to  remis.sion  of  sins,'  seeing  the  Lord,  saith,  '  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  behold  Him  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.' " 

X  This  way  is  taken  by  the  author  of  the  De  Rebaptismate  ap.  Cypr.  (above 
p.  202.)  of  the  De  Rebaptismo  ap.  Basil,  (ab.  p.  201.)  S.  Gregory  Nyss.  in 
laud.  Basil,  t.  3.  p.  482,  as  well  as  St.  Cyril  below. 


209 

that  "  remission  of  sins"  was  the  direct  end  of  St.  John's  "  Bap- 
tism of  repentance,"  supposed  that  it  was  bestowed  upon  all 
who  came  sincerely  to  it,  and  yet  were  they  at  no  loss  to  see  the 
excellences  of  Christian  Baptism,  which  still  set  it  far  above  that  of 
John's,  even  if  this  privilege  were  conceded  to  his.  Christian  Bap- 
tism still  had  peculiarly  its  own,  the  adoption  of  sons,  the  union  with 
the  Incarnate  Word ;  it  had  not  only  "  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  re- 
moval of  punishment ;"  but,  to  use  St.  Chrysostome's  words  on  this 
very  subject,  "  righteousness  also,  and  sanctification,  and  redemp- 
tion, and  adoption,  and  brotherhood,  and  participation  of  the  heritage 
and  abundant  ministration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  all  these  things  he 
implied  when  he  said,  '  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire  ;'  by  the  very  metaphor  showing  the  abundance  of  the 
gift,  for  he  does  not  say, '  He  shall  give  you  the  Holy  Ghost,'  but, 
'  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;'  and  by  the  addition  of 
'  fire,'  he  points  out  the  vehemence  and  efficacy  of  the  grace."  Thus 
St.  Cyril,  who  did  think  that  remission  of  sins  was  given  by  John's 
Baptism,*  adds,  "  Thou  hast,  as  the  glory  of  Baptism,  the  Son  of 
God  Himself,  the  Only-Begotten.  For  why  should  I  henceforth 
speak  of  man?  John  was  great,  but  what  was  he  to  the  Lord? 
Loud  was  that  voice,  but  what  is  it  to  the  Word  ?  Most  glorious 
was  the  herald,  but  what  to  the  king  ?  Glorious  was  he  who  bap- 
tized with  water,  but  what  to  Him  who  baptizeth  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire  :"  so  likewise  another,  above  quoted,!  added 
that  the  exceedingness  of  its  grace  and  power  was  more  than  the  sun 
above  the  stars,  yea,  the  recorded  sayings  of  the  saints  more  mightily 
establish  its  incomparable  superiority."  And  St.  Augustine,  when 
refraining  from  pressing  his  own  view,|  inasmuch  as  some  might 
argue  that  sins  were  remitted  in  John's  Baptism  while  some  further 
sanctification  was,  through  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  bestowed  upon 
those  whom  Paul  commanded  to  be  again  baptized,"  does  iiot  con- 
template any  other  alternative,  than  that  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord 
should  have  conferred  some  further  grace.     Remarkable  in  this  way 

*  Catech.  Lect.  3.  }  7—9.  p.  29.  30.  Oxf.  Transl.  f  ?•  202. 

X  1.  c.  This  passage  has  been  often  alleged  (as  by  Chemnitz  Exam.  Cone. 
Trid.  de  Bapt.)  as  if  St.  Augustine  had  no  very  decided  view  on  the  subject, 
but  it  is  plain  from  the  context  that  he  simply  drops  this  part  of  the  argument, 
as  not  essential  to  the  point  he  had  in  view,  for  he  proceeds  (c.  11  :)  "  For 
that  ought  to  be  kept  mainly  in  view  which  most  effects  this  question  (what- 
ever be  the  case  of  John's  baptism  since  he  evidently  belonged  to  the  unity  of 
Christ,)  why  persons  must  needs  be  baptized  after  the  Baptism  of  Saint  John, 
and  not  after  that  of  covetous  bishops.  What  reason  can  there  be  then  that 
the  Baptism  which  Paul  commanded  them  to  receive,  was  not  the  same  which 
was  given  by  John  1^  But  neither  indeed  was  the  baptism  of  John  himself  re^- 
peated,  when  the  Apostle  Paul  bade  those  baptized  by  him  to  be  baptized  in 
Christ.  For  what  tliey  had  not  received  from  the  friend  of  the  Bridegroom,, 
that  they  were  to  receive  from  the  Bridegroom  Himself,  of  V.T:iom  that  friend 
said,  '  This  is  He  Who  baptizeth  in  the  Holy  Ghost.'  " 

7* 


2t0 

is  the  comment  of  one,  not  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Fathers,  on 
the  testimony  of  Holy  Scripture  to  Apollos,  that  he  was  "  fervent  in 
spirit,"  although  he  then  "  knew  only  the  Baptism  of  John/'  This 
writer  does  not  go  about  to  lower  the  witness  of  Scripture,  as  if  a 
man  could  be  "  fervent  in  spirit"  without  the  Spirit ;  rather  he  exalts 
this  testimony  to  him,  and  yet  shows  that  our  Christian  privilege  is 
higher,  in  that  we  not  only  may  be  kindled  hy  the  Spirit,  as  from 
without,  but  have  Him  dwelling  in  us,  and  are  His  temple,  are  not 
only  guided  and  led  by  Him,  as  by  an  Angel,  but  are  the  living 
creatures  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  living  through  His  life  within  us,  "when 
those  went,  these  went ;  and  when  those  stood,  they  stood  ;  for  the 
spirit  of  the  living  creature  was  in  the  wheels,"  propelling  them  by 
an  inward  principle  of  vitality,  not  by  outward  impulse.  "  Again  it 
must  be  noted,  says  Ammonius,*  "that  after  the  Baptism  of  Christ, 
through  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  baptizer,  the  Holy  Ghost 
descends  on  the  baptized;  and  that  they  who  were  baptized  with 
John's  Baptism  had  not  the  Holy  Ghost.  How,  then,  was  Apollos^ 
being  only  baptized  into  John's  Baptism,  '  fervent  in  Spirit  V 
Though  it  is  said  that  Apollos  was  '  fervent  in  Spirit,'  it  is  not  said 
that  he  '  had  the  Spirit ;'  accordingly,  he  neither  spake  with  tongues 
nor  prophesied.  It  is  one  thing  then  to  be  '  fervent  in  Spirit,'  another 
to  '  have  the  Holy  Spirit ;'  he  who  '  hath  the  Holy  Spirit'  hath  it  in- 
dwelling in  him,  and  the  Spirit  Himself  spake  from  within,  many  of 
which  instances  have  occurred  ;  how  He  *  spake  to  Philip,'  to  Pe- 
ter, to  the  Apostles,  to  Paul  and  his  companions,  forbidding  them  to 
speak  the  word,  or  to  speak  it  in  certain  cities :  but  he  who  is  '  fer- 
vent in  Spirit,'  did  things  through  illumination  and  impulse  from 
without,  being  guided  by  the  Spirit,  as  if  he  were  guided  or  guarded 
by  an  Angel.  And  say  not,  how  could  he  be  '  fervent  in  Spirit* 
who  was  not  partaker  of  the  Spirit?  for  you  may  infer  things  invisi- 
ble from  those  visible.  If  the  sun,  being  without,  and  fire,  by 
being  near,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  fire,  at  a  little  distance  from  bodies, 
warmeth  our  bodies,  what  must  we  say  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  which 
is  indeed  the  most  vehement  fire,  kindling  the  inner  man,  although 
It  dwell  not  within,  but  be  without  ?  It  is  possible  then,  in  that  all 
things  are  possible  to  God,  that  one  maybe  warmed,  although  that 
which  warmeth  him  be  not  in  himself." 

Scarcely  less  instructive,  in  its  w^ay,  than  this  agreement  of  the 
ancient  Church  as  to  the  inferiority  of  the  Baptism  of  John  to  that 
of  our  Lord,  is  the  agreement  of  the  school  of  Calvin  (with  whom 
the  later  Lutherans!  coincided,)  as  to  its  identity  and  equality,  the 
o-rounds  upon  which  those  built  it,  from  whom  this  traditional  agree- 
ment was   derived,  or  the  incongruity  of  the  mode  in  which  they 

*  In  Cramer's  Catena,  xix.  5. 

t  Luther  himself  at  an  earlier  period  (1520)  laid  down,  that  "John  had  only 
a  baptism  of  repentance,  Christ,  a  Baptism  of  grace ;  that  Christ's  Baptism 
alone  was  a  Sacrament ;  that  the  Baptism  of  John  was  preparatory  only,  that 


211 

explained  away  tlie  Scriptures  opposed  to  them.  The  author  of  this, 
as  of  all  other  depravations  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Sacraments,  was 
Zuingli ;  the  ground,  which  the  rest  repealed  after  him,  was  the 
denial  of  the  inward  grace  or  mystic  efhcacy  of  the  Sacrament, — 
"The  Baptism  of  John  worked  nothing,"  says  Zuingli: — "(I 
speak  here,"  he  adds,*  "  of  the  Baptism  of  water,  not  of  the  in- 
ternal bedewing,  which  takes  place  through  the  Holy  Spirit;)  the 
Baptism  of  Christ  works  nothing,  for  Christ  was  content  with  the 
Baptism  of  John,  both  for  Himself  (!)  and  for  His  disciples  ;  where- 
as, had  His  Baptism  had  any  thing  fuller.  He  would  have  baptized 
the  disciples  a  second  time,  and  not  allowed  Himself  to  be  baptized 
with  the  Baptism  of  John."(!)  It  being  settled,  on  such  grounds, 
that  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord  has  no  inward  grace,  the  Baptisms 
could  not  but  be  the  same;  i.  e.  alike  empty  in  themselves,  and  but 
appendages  of  the  same  teaching.  "  John  baptized  to  initiate  to  re- 
pentance, and  promised  that  there  should  be  salvation  in  Him  who 
should  come  after  him,  for  that  He  was  the  Lamb,  who  alone  took 
away  sin,  in  whom  also  he  taught  to  trust.  The  Baptism  then  of 
John  required  a  new  life,  and  pointed  to  hope  in  Christ.  And  this 
was  the  Baptism  of  doctrine  (for  both  equally  baptized  with  water,) 
the  Baptism  of  Christ  required  nothing  else,  for  He  began  to  preach 
no  otherwise  than  John,  '  Repent  ye.'  For,  that  Christ  Himself  is 
the  hope,  and  John  was  not  the  hope,  since  '  he  was  not  the  light,' 
but  sent  to  Christ,  this  made  no  difference  in  the  Baptism :  for  both 
tended  to  Christ,  i.  e.  required  a  new  life,  to  be  formed  after  the 
pattern  of  Christ.  Since  then  John  taught  that  the  life  was  to  be 
changed,  and  formed  after  the  pattern  of  Christ,  and  Christ  taught 
no  otherwise,  (for  what  does  all  Christ's  teaching  require  other  than 
a  new  life  to  be  formed  according  to  the  will  of  God,  and  to  trust 
unshakenly  in  Christ?)  it  follows  that  if  the  Baptism  of  doctrine  was 
the  same,  that  of  the  water  was  the  same  alsoJ^  The  promise  then 
that  they  should  be  "  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire," 
was,  according  to  this  writer,  a  mere  outward  thing,  confined  to  the 
Apostles,  "  as  outward,"  he  says,t  "  as  the  Baptism  of  water ;"   the 

it  had  no  grace  [did  not  remit  sin,]  but  rather  brought  despair,  until  it  ended 
in  Christ ;  and  that  those  so  baptized  needed  to  be  again  baptized."  (Disp- 
de  Bapt.  Leg.  Joh.  et  Cliristi.  0pp.  t.  1.  p.  373.)  In  1541  he  held  that  "  it  did 
not  much  differ  from  the  Baptism  of  Christ,"  (Sermons  on  Infant  Bapt.  0pp. 
Germ.  t.  7.  f.  460.  ap.  Gerh.  Loc.  de  Bapt.  c  3.  s.  5.  5  55. ;)  in  1546,  "that 
the  penitent  obtained  by  it  remission  of  sins  ;"  (Serm.  1,  on  the  Bapt.  of  Christ, 
0pp.  Germ.  t.  8.  f.  301.  ap.  Gerh.  1.  c.)  which  however  does  not  go  beyond 
some  of  the  Fathers.  Melancthon  also  varied  ;  he  contrasted  the  two  baptisms 
in  the  Loci  ed.  1520 ;  identified  them  in  the  ed.  1558;  and  was  the  channel 
through  which  the  reformed  theory  came  among  the  Lutherans  ;  thenceforth 
it  became  a  regular  part  of  their  traditional  system. 

*  De  nova  et  falsa  Relig.  cap.  de  Baptismo,  t.  2.  f  200.  1. 

t  lb.  f.  199.  v.  He  admits  another  "  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  wherewith 
aU  are  bedewed  internally  who  believe  in  Christ,"  and  this  baptism,  according 


212 

invocation  of  the  Name  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  also  outward  ;  "  it  is 
cm  outward  thi7ig,  xhsil  when  they  are  baptized,  there  concur  ihe  sacred 
words,  '  In  the  Name  of,  &c.,'  and  a  sign  of  the  real  substance  and 
a  ceremonyT*  In  like  way  Calvin, t  "  It  is  most  certain  that  the 
ministry  [Baptism]  of  John  was  altogether  the  same  as  that  after- 
wards delegated  to  the  Apostles.  For  its  being  administered  by  dif- 
ferent hands  does  not  make  the  Baptism  different,  but  the  identity  of 
doctrine  shows  it  to  be  identical.  John  and  the  Apostles  agreed  in 
the  same  doctrine  ;  both  baptized  '  to  repentance,!  to  the  remission 
of  sins  ;'  both  into  the  Name  of  Christ,  from  whom  was  repentance 
and  remission  of  sins.  John  said  that  '  He  was  the  Lamb  of  God, 
by  whom  the  sins  of  the  world  were  taken  away  :'  thereby  declaring 
Him  to  be  a  Victim  accepted  by  the  Father,  the  Propitiator  of  jus- 
tice and  Author  of  salvation.  What  could  the  Apostles  add  to  this 
confession  ?"  And  even  the  later  Lutherans  allowed  themselves  to 
be  misled  by  the  modern  theory,  that  Sacraments  were  seals  of 
the  word  preached,  whence  even  Brentius^  asserts,  that  "  the  Bap- 
tism of  John  and  the  Apostles  and  the  whole  Christian  Church  was 
not  only  altogether  the  same,  but  that  John  was  the  fix'st  who  admin- 
istered that  Baptism,  which  the  Church  uses  to  this  day,  and  shall 
use  to  the  end  of  the  world ;"  and  as  the  ground  of  this,  alleges, 
"  For  the  Baptism  of  John  is  such  as  is  his  teaching  and  his  word. 
For  since  the  sacraments  depend  upon  the  word,  and  are  constituted 
hy  the  word,  they  must  be  compared  with  the  word,  and  be  judged  of 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  word  whence  they  derive  their  hallow- 
ing. But  we  have  shown  that  there  is  no  difference  between  the 
teaching  and  word  of  John  and  of  the  Apostles.  How  then  should 
their  Baptisms  differ  ?" 

Such  being  the  d  priori  and  theoretic  way  in  which  men  came  ta 
assert  the  identity  of  the  baptism  of  St.  John  with  that  of  our  Lord, 
it  is  instructive  to  observe  its  effect  on  the  interpretation  of  the  two 
passages,  on  which  A  ntiquity  chiefly  rested  their  disparity  ;  the  dec- 

to  him,  consists  in  teaching,  for  he  assi'^ns  as  its  ground,  only  the  texts,  "  No 
one  can  come  unto  Me,  except  whom  the  Father  draws,"  and  "  They  shall  all 
be  taught  of  God." 

*  lb.  f.  202. 

f  Inst.  4.  15.  7. 

X  This  is  not  true  ,  the  Apostles  baptized  upon  repentance,  but  not  "  to  re- 
pentance ;"  John  "  preached  the  baptism  of  repentance  to  the  remission  of 
sins"  [i.  e.  with  the  view  to  their  ulterior  remission  :]  the  Apostles  baptized 
not  "  to  repentance,"  but  directly  "  to  the  remission  of  sins."  Acts  ii.  38. — 
Neither  does  it  appear  that  John  baptized  plainly  "  unto  Christ,"  or  indeed 
to  Him  that  was  coming"  at  all,  (though  some  have  so  understood  St.  Paul's 
words,)  but  rather  St.  Paul  says,  he  "  baptized  to  repentance,  that  so  they 
might  believe  in  Him  who  should  come  :"  certainly  he  did  not  baptize  into 
the  Name  of  the  Trinity. 

^  Hom.  21.  in  Ev.  Luc. 


213 

laration  of  the  Baptist  himself,  and  the  act  of  St.  Paul.  For  the 
first,  whereas  the  Baptist  says,  "  I  baptize  with  water,  but  He  shall 
baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,"  they  said  that  he 
meant  that  "  he  was  only  the  outward  minister  of  the  outward  ele- 
ment, but  that  it  was  Christ  who  gave  the  Spirit,  and  that  the  mira- 
cle of  the  day  of  Pentecost  would  attest  this  ;"  so  that  when  he  said 
that  he  "  baptized  with  water,"  he  did  not  mean  that  his  baptism  was 
only  in  water,  that  it  was  any  more  a  mere  "  baptism  with  water" 
than  that  of  our  Lord  ;  rather  that  it  was,  equally  with  His,  "  with 
the  Holy  Ghost ;"  only  that  himself,  as  being  a  mere  man,  did  not 
give  to  the  baptism  its  power  and  efficacy,*  that  he  being  man  had 
no  power  to  bestow  the  Presence  of  God  ;  and  that  when  he  said 
"  He  shall  baptize  you,"  he  meant,  "  He  is  now  baptizing  you  in- 
visibly, of  which  the  proof  is  that  hereafter  He  sliall  baptize  you  vis- 
ibly." As  to  the  history  in  the  Acts,  the  interpretation  is  more 
varied.  When  these  disciples  said,  "  we  have  not  so  much  as  heard 
whether  there  be  any  Holy  Ghost,  then  said  Paul  unto  what  then 
were  ye  baptized?  and  they  said,  Unto  John's  baptism.  Then  said 
Paul,  John  verily  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  repentance,  &;c. 
When  they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized  into  the  Name  of  the  Tiord 
Jesus."  Now,  since  John  baptized  with  water,  and  speaks  of  his 
baptism  as  a  baptism  of  water,  nothing  could  seem  plainer,  than  that 
the  baptism  here  spoken  of  was,  at  all  events,  a  baptism  with  water, 
that  the  word  "  baptism"  or  "  baptized"  is  to  be,  throughout  the  pas- 
sage, taken  in  the  same  sense,  and  that  ihe  baptism  into  the  Name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  was  a  Baptism  which  these  disciples  theii  receiv- 
ed in  obedience  to  St.  Paul's  instruction.  Nothing  less  !  according 
to  these  interpreters,  although  they  agree  only  that  its  obvious  mean- 
ing is  not  its  meaning  ;  what  else  it  can  mean,  becomes  matter 
for  conjecture.  Thus  they  say,  l,t  St.  Paul  when  he  asked,  "unto 
what  were  ye  baptized  ?"  meant,  "  what  were  ye  taught  ?"  that  they 
by  "  John's  baptism"  meant  "John's  teaching;"  that  St.  Paul,  by 
saying,  "  John  baptized,"  meant,  "  John  preached,"  and  that  Scrip- 
ture when  it  relates  finally,  that  "  they  were  baptized  into  the  Name, 
&c."  meant  that  they  were  "  taught"  more  correctly,  and  "  led  by 
Paul  to  Christ ;"  and  so,  whereas  Scripture  speaks  four  times  of 
baptism  it  means  every  where  not  "baptism"  but  "  preaching  or 
teaching."  This  at  least  is  consistent.  Or,  2,t  "  that  they  had  re- 
ally been  baptized  with  water  by  John,  but  now  were  not  baptized 

*  CaW.  Inst.  4.  15.  8.     So  Brentius,  Horn.  29.  in  Luc. 

t  Zuingli  de  vera  et  falsa  Relig.  1-  c. 

X  Calvin  Inst.  4.  15.  18.  Brent.  Horn.  29.  in  Luc.  Quidam  ap.  Chemnitz. 
Exam.  Cone.  Trid.  P.  2.  ad  Can.  1.  de  Bapt.  Vatablus.  Osiander,  paraphr. 
Franzius,  ap.  Calov.  Loss,  in  Joh.  1.  "  Interpretes  fere  omnes,"  ap.  Loss, 
ad  Act.  xiss. 


214 

with  water,  but  received  the  miraculous  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,'* 
So  that  when  Scripture  says,  "  When  they  heard  this,  they  were 
baptized  into  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  when  Paul  had  laid 
his  hands  upon  them,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  on  them,"  it  means,  "they 
were  baptized,  i.  e.*  Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  them,"  that  their  bap- 
tism consisted  in  Paul's  so  laying  his  hands,  or  rather  not  therein, 
but  in  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  accompanied  it.  Or,  3,t 
having  been  really  baptized  by  John,  they  were  not  baptized,  but 
being  taught  the  object  of  John's  baptism  (faith  in  Jesus,)  acknowl- 
edge that  they  were  so  baptized  before  ;  i.  e.  when  Scripture  says, 
"  when  they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized,"  it  means,  "  they  were 
not  baptized  then  when  they  heard  it,  but  they  knew  that  they  had 
been  baptized  long  before."  Or,  4:,\  they  were  not  baptized  with 
water  by  John,  but  "  taughC  only  by  him,  and  were  really  baptized 
by  St.  Paul."  Or,  5,§  they  take  criticism  to  aid,  and,  by  the  force 
of /"«"  and  ''^discover  that  the  words  were  spoken  by  St.  Paul,  and 
mean,  that  "  when  the  people  heard  John  the  Baptist,  they  were  bap- 
tized by  him  into  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  So  that  when  Scrip- 
ture says,  "  they  were  baptized  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
And  when  Paul  laid  his  hands  on  them,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  on 
them,  and  they  spake  with  tongues,  and  prophesied.  And  all  the 
men  were  about  twelve  :"  "  they"  in  the  first  place  means  all  who 
in  Judea  received  John's  baptism,  and  in  the  second,  the  twelve  only 
who  v/ere  at  Ephesus  ;  so  that  Scripture  does  not  mean  that  St. 
Paul  laid  his  hands  on  the  same  persons  who  had  been  baptized,  for 
these  were,  according  to  this  exposition,  all  John's  disciples,  but  that 
it  does  mean,  that  St.  Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  these  twelve,  as  hav- 
ing been  some  of  those  formerl}'-  baptized  by  John  ;  and  this  though 
Scripture  adds,  "  And  all  the  men  were  about  twelve."  Or,  lastly, 
having  themselves  raised  this  cloud,  they  content  themselves  with 
saying,  that  the  meaning  of  the  passage  is  obscure,  and  tiiat  which- 

*  Calvin  says,  it  is  a  Hebraism,  that  the  same  thing- is  first  related  compen- 
diously (viz.  that  they  were  baptized  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,)  then, 
more  fully,  that  Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  them  and  they  received  the  Holy 
Ghost.     Gerhard,  that  it  is  an  epexegesis. 

t  Lightfoot Chron.  adloc.  So  nearly,  "  some,"  ap.  Chemnitz.  1.  c.  "upon 
hearing  this  declaration,  the  baptism  of  John  was  to  them  Baptism  into  the 
Name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ;"  to  this  Chemnitz  inclines. 

X  Bullinger  ad  loc.  professing  to  derive  it  mainly  from  Zuingli.  Quidam  ap. 
Chemnitz.  1.  c.  "perhaps  so."     Loss- 

^  This  strange  perversion  was  invented  by  one  named  Marnix,  adopted  from 
him,  with  great  panegyric,  by  Beza,  and  then  became  a  received  traditional 
exposition  of  both  reformed  and  Lutheran  writers.  It  occurs  in  Aretius  ad 
loc.  Drusius  ad  1.  Gataker  ad  1.  Selneccer  (Paedag.  P.  2.  de  Bapt.,)  Loss, 
ad  Actt.  19-  Glass.  Gr.  3.  7.  14.  can.  610.  Konig.ap.  Calov.,  Gerhard  (Loci.) 
&c.  Vossius  says  that  it  was  somewhat  modern,  being  born  after  himself, 
"  admodum  est  novella,  quippe  nata  me  nato." 


215 

ever*  of  these  contradictory  ways  you  take  it,  it  neither  favors  Ana- 
baptism,  nor  proves  "certainly,  evidently,  and  of  necessary  conse- 
quence, that  there  was  no  efficacy  in  John's  baptism,  and  that  those 
who  believed  received  neither  grace  nor  remission  of  sins  ;"  i.  e. 
Scripture  had  no  certain  meaning,  because  men  had  invented  all  sorts 
of  questions  about  it,  and  the  sun  shone  not  clearly  on  the  Church, 
because  men  had  raised  mists  about  the  dwelling-place  which  they 
had  chosen  for  themselves.  And  amid  this  discordance  of  interpre- 
tation, each  admits  the  harshness  of  those  expositions  which  himself 
does  not  adopt,!  and  avows  the  object  of  them  all  to  be,  to  meet  the 
objections  of  Anabaptists  on  the  one  hand  without  conceding  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  that  the  baptism  of  John  was  different  from  that 
of  Christ.  And  this  is  the  boasted  critical  exposition,  freed  from  all 
tradition,  except  that  of  their  own  school,  and  from  all  authority,  ex- 
cept that  of  its  masters. 

Such  then  are  the  two  views  of  John's  baptism  ;  the  one  that  of 
the  Church,  the  other  that  of  an  individual,  and  from  him  of  a  school ; 
the  one  looking  to  the  letter  of  Scripture,  the  other  to  a  theory  of  its 
own ;  the  one  to  the  efficacy  of  man's  preaching,  the  other  to  the 
Incarnation,  Cross,  and  Resurrection  of  their  Lord  ;  the  one  to  what 
can  be  seen  with  the  eye  of  flesh,  the  other  realizing  the  things  in- 
visible ;  the  one  to  "  beggarly  elements,"  the  other  to  "  the  Spirit  of 
God,  brooding  upon  the  face  of  the  waters  ;"  the  one  magnifying 
man,  the  other  looking  away  in  all  things  from  man,  and  seeing  only 

*  Chemnitz,  1.  c.  Bellarmine,  who,  with  some  mistakes,  gives  the  above  va- 
riations, adds  two  others  (which  do  no  violence  to  the  text,)  1,  which  seems 
tilso  to  have  been  St.  Ambrose's  view  of  this  case  (de  Sp.  S.  i,  3.,)  that  they 
had  received  the  baptism  of  John  wrongly  in  some  way,  (wherein  St.  Ambrose 
however  still  maintains  the  difference  between  the  Baptisms  of  John  and  of 
Christ,  "  for  although /o/m  baptized  not  in  the  Spirit,  yet  he  preached  both  of 
Christ  and  the  Spirit ;")  as  though  John's  Baptism  would  ordinarily  have  suf- 
ficed, and  needed  only  the  imposition  of  hands,  but  that  in  their  case  it  had 
been  administered  wrongly,  (so  Aretius  and  Piscator,  ad  loc.  Musculus,  Loci, 
de  Bapt. ;)  or,  2,  which  is  altogether  a  modern  way,  that  they  had  received  it 
in  a  wrong  frame  of  mind,  (which  had  been  no  ground  for  re-baptizing.)  Brun- 
fels  ad  loc.  Neither  exposition  found  much  favor  in  this  school.  This  doubt 
■of  St.  Ambrose  is  alluded  to  by  St.  Augustine  de  unico  Bapt.  c.  7. — "  To 
these  men  was  given  a  Baptism  which  they  had  not,  not  that  which  they  had, 
disapproved,  whether,  as  some  think,  they  said  untruly  that  they  had  the  bap- 
tism of  John,  or  that  the  baptism  of  John  was  not  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  but 
only  ministered  to  Christ,  as  the  ancient  sacraments  of  the  law  discharged  a 
certain  precursory  and  prefigurative  office." 

f  Thus  Aretius  says  of  the  two  first,  "quibus  simplicitas  verborum  recla- 
mat."  Chemnitz,  that  "  they  [the  3rd  and  4th]  have  both  something  forced, 
and  do  notthroughout  preserve  the  simplicity  and  perspicuity  of  the  text;"  in 
like  way  Piscator,  Vossius,  and  Musculus  as  to  the  5th.  Calvin  again,  on 
Acts  19,  summarily  rejects  the  notion  that  they  were  not  genuine  disciples  of 
the  Baptist,  (see  above  note,)  as  also  the  1st  and  3rd,  that  Baptism  meant  in- 
struction.   This  last  he  says  "  as  it  is  forced,  so  it  savors  of  being  a  shift." 


216 

in  all,  and  in  all  glorifying  their  Lord,  *'  John  Baptist  and  Paul  the 
Apostle,"  says  St.  Augustine,*  "  were  one,  both  being  friends  of  the 
Bridegroom,  yet  because  it  was  not  one  Baptism  which  was  given 
by  John  and  by  Paul,  Paul  bade  those  be  baptized  with  the  Baptism 
of  Christ  who  had  been  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  John.  So  then 
the  one  baptism  was  called  the  baptism  of  John  ;  but  that  given  by 
Paul  was  not  called  Paul's  baptism  ;  but  '  he  commanded  them,'  it 
saith,  '  to  be  baptized  in  Christ.'  So  John  and  Paul  are  one, 
and  give  not  what  is  one  ;  so  Peter  and  Judas  are  not  one,  but  give 
what  is  one  ;  but  Peter  and  Paul  are  both  one,  and  give  what  is  one." 

iii.  3.  Indications  of  the  dignity  of  Baptism  arising  from  cir- 
cumstances connected  ivith  our  Blessed  Saviour's  Person,  and  from 
prophetic  declarations  and  types  of  it  recognized  by  Scripture,  by 
the  Ancient  Church,  or,  as  derived  from  it,  by  our  own. 

In  the  view  of  the  Ancient  Church,  no  event  recorded  in  Holy 
Scripture  stands  insulated  and  alone.  All  have  bearings  every  way  ; 
all  belong  to  a  vast  system  of  which  we  have  some  glimpses,  which 
we  cannot  construct  as  a  whole,  nor,  consequently,  tell  all  the  bear- 
ings of  the  several  parts  ;  yet,  by  reason  of  this  oneness  of  the  whole 
system,  all  its  parts,  as  being  parts  of  one,  have  some  relation  to 
each  other,  and  we,  she  believed,  have  principles  enough  given  us, 
to  enable  us  to  understand  and  interpret  some  of  these  relations. 
But,  chiefly,  they  all  bear,  she  was  persuaded,  in  some  way  upon 
Him,  the  Sun  and  centre  of  the  system,  our  Incarnate  Lord  ;  and  so 
again,  the  events  of  His  history  gleam  with  His  own  effulgence  upon 
His  body,  the  Church.  In  that  He  had  deigned  to  become  her 
Head,  it  could  not  but  be,  that  He  had  instituted  a  mysterious  rela- 
tion between  Himself  and  His  body,  so  that  she  should,  in  a  manner, 
and  as  a  whole,  reflect  Him,  and  His  acts  concern  her.  Of  these 
His  holy  actions,  the  Ancient  Church  had  her  eye  specially  fixed  up- 
on such  as  related  to  His  Sacraments,  the  means  whereby  He  orig- 
inally united  her  to  Himself,  or  still  nourished  her,  and  cherished  her, 
and  maintained  her  in  that  union.  In  this  way,  incidents,  which  up- 
on a  modern  system  would  be  termed  mere  casualties,  things  which 
must  take  place  somehow,  and  so,  it  is  supposed,  did  take  place  as 
they  did,  events  which,  according  to  moderns,  terminate  in  them- 
selves, these  same  incidents  had,  according  to  the  ancients,  a  mean- 
ing, even  on  that  ground  alone,  that  they  belong  to  His  history.  It 
is  a  principle  with  the  ancients,  that  whether  they  see  the  right  ap- 
plication or  no,  or  only  one  or  more  of  many  right  applications,  still 
nothing  in  His  history  was  accidental,  nothing  without  its  meaning. 
This,  if  exhibited  in  detail,  will  appear  to  moderns,  at  first  sight, 
strained  and  fanciful ;  we  have  habituated  ourselves  to  look  upon 
those  things  as  unmeaning ;  they  would  be  so  in  common-place  histo- 

*De  unit.  Eccl.  c.  21.  (al.  18.) 


217 

ry ;  and  so  we  accustom  ourselves  to  pass  them  by  in  a  common- 
sense  way,  as  if  they  could  have  no  deeper  meaning  when  brought 
near  to  His  Person.  There  must  have  been,  we  should  say,  a  cer- 
tain number  of  water-pots  in  the  miracle  of  turning  the  water  into 
wine  ;  a  certain  number  of  loaves  which  were  multiplied  ;  a  certain 
number  of  baskets  in  which  their  fragments  were  gathered  up :  these 
things,  it  is  supposed,  belong  only  to  the  reality  and  truth  of  the 
history  ;  and,  according  to  our  respective  characters,  moderns  find 
evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  narrators,  where  the  ancients  saw  doctrine 
and  Divine  wisdom.  We  cannot  get  ourselves  over  and  above  to 
entertain  the  thought,  that  these  outward  circumstances  should  have 
a  meaning,  and  be  the  vehicles  of  spiritual  truth  ;  and  so  they  who 
see  such  meaning,  must  to  us  seem,  of  necessity,  to  see  more  than 
there  is,  i.  e.  to  be  fanciful.  Either  we  must  see  too  little,  or  they 
too  much  ;  and  we  have  taken  upon  ourselves  to  decide  in  our  own 
favor.  And  yet,  it  must  be  confessed,  on  reflection,  that  the  ancient 
view  is  the  more  reverential ;  it  is  more  respectful,  surely,  to  think 
that  every  thing,  down  to  His  shoe-latchet,  which  St.  John  felt  un- 
Avorthy  to  unloose,  should  derive  a  portion  of  dignity  from  its  prox- 
imity to  Him  ;  it  is  more  credible,  that  when  God  became  man,  and 
visited  us,  and  went  about  among  us,  nothing  should  have  been  acci- 
dental, or  without  meaning,  which  encompassed  Him,  nothing  with- 
out purpose,  which  the  Holy  Ghost  caused  to  be  recorded  in  con- 
nection with  Him  ;  it  is  more  in  harmony  with  His  Providence, 
vi^ithout  Whom  not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the  ground,  that  when  He 
sent  his  Only-Begotten  Son  into  the  world.  He  should  have  disposed 
every  thing,  small  or,  as  to  us  seems,  great, — (yet  how  carnal  is  it 
to  speak  of  any  earthly  thing  as  being  great  in  connection  with  Him, 
their  Creator) — that  He  should  have  so  disposed  all,  that  all  should 
admit  of  receiving  a  meaning  from  His  nearness.  Thus,  His  earthly 
sun,  as  it  draws  and  disposes  our  clouds  around  himself,  and  gives 
to  each  their  due  form,  and  a  portion  of  his  own  brightness,  imparts 
to  each  tiny  speck  the  richness  of  his  glory,  and  most  often  bathes 
and  envelopes  these  with  his  lustre,  while  those  earthboin  masses, 
which  would  claim  to  themselves  more  of  solidity,  and  a  more  dis- 
tinct existence,  can  receive  but  a  slighter  tinge,  and  in  their  outskirts 
only,  testify  his  presence.  In  like  way,  it  may  be,  that  those  hu- 
man things,  which  have  a  more  substantial  existence,  are  less  fitted 
to  be  symbolical  of  Him,  while  the  mean  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  despised  in  man's  eyes,  may  be  made  the  vehicles  of  His 
mysteries,  or  point  to  them.  This  extent  of  significance  were  also 
in  harmony  with  the  Old  Testament,  in  which  every  thing  relating 
to  the  Representative  High  Priest  of  the  Law,  even  the  very  hem  of 
His  garment,  was  appointed  by  God,  and  the  very  streaming  of  the 
sacred  and  fragrant  oil  from  His  head  to  those  skirts  was  significant; 
— in  which  the  very  size  of  the  court  of  the  Lord's  house,  and  the 


218 

hangings,  and.  hooks,  and  fillets,  by  which  it  was  bound  into  one, 
were  appointed  ;  its  minutest  details  were  to  be  made  "  according 
to  the  pattern  shown  to  Moses  in  the  mount."*  So  also  as  to  our 
Blessed  Saviour's  Person,  the  very  seamlessness  of  His  coat  was 
prophesied  of  in  the  Psalm  which  spoke  of  the  lots  being  cast  upon 
it,  and  pointed  out  by  Evangelists  :  surely  then  it  were  truer,  and 
even  more  philosophical,  to  believe  (which  in  this  instance,  indeed, 
people  for  the  most  part  are  willing  to  do)  that  there  is  some  further 
meaning  in  that  seamlessness — the  unity  of  His  Church — than  to 
look  upon  that  which  was  so  prophesied  of,  and  fulfilled,  as  in  itself 
a  thing  indifferent  and  unmeaning. 

But  whether  it  appear  to  us  philosophical  or  fanciful,  such  was 
the  view  of  the  ancient  Church  ;  and  it  is  right  to  bear  in  mind  that 
it  was  the  view  of  the  universal  Church,  and  implied  the  greatest 
reverence  for  the  letter  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  for  Him  to  whom  the 
Scripture  testified.  The  very  principle  whereon  it  rested,  was  the 
conviction  of  the  extreme  sacredness  and  significance  of  every  jot 
and  tittle  of  God's  Word,  as  partaking  of  His  fulness  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  vivid  sense  of  His  Presence  every  where  in  it,  ani- 
mating it  with  His  Spirit,  and  bringing  the  whole  into  connection 
with  Himself,  as  its  Author  and  its  End.  This  system  should  then, 
at  least,  be  approached  seriously,  not  judged  of  in  an  off-hand  way, 
nor  decided  on  at  once,  because  at  variance  with  our  notions  of  dignity 
or  fitness  ;  and  they  who  do  so  approach  it,  will  be  startled  very 
likely  at  first,  as  men  brought  into  a  new  world  ;  but  when  their 
eyes  are  accustomed  to  it,  they  will  learn  gradually  to  admire,  at 
least  in  some  respects,  its  beauty,  and  unity,  and  harmony.  The 
principle,  in  regard  to  Baptism,  is  stated  simply  in  the  striking 
words  of  St.  Cyprian  :t  "  As  often  as  water  is  mentioned  alone  in 
Holy  Scripture,  so  often  is  Baptism  extolled."  Strong  as  this  state- 
ment seems,  it  is  meant,  not  as  a  mere  vivid  assertion,  but  as  the 
plain  and  simple  truth.  For  thus  Tertullian,|  in  his  concise  way, 
touches  on  the  mention  of  water  in  the  New  Testament,  as  purposed 
to  confer  honor  upon  Baptism  : — "  In  how  great  favor  with  God  and 
His  Christ  is  water,  to  the  sanctioning  of  Baptism  !  Every  where 
Christ  appeareth  with  water.  Forasmuch  as  Himself  is  baptized 
with  water.  The  first  beginnings  of  His  power,  when  called  to  the 
marriage,  He  consecrateth  with  water.  When  he  uttereth  His  dis- 
course, He  inviteth  the  thirsty  to  His  everlasting  water.  When  He 
teacheth  of  love,  He  commends,  among  the  works  of  love,  the  cup 
of  water  given  to  the  poor.  He  recruits  His  strength  by  the  well. — 
He  walketh  on  the  water.     He  willeth  often  to  cross  the  water.   He 

*  Ex.  XXV.  9.  40.  xxvi.  30 ;  xxvii.  8.  Numb.  viii.  4.  Acts  vii.  44.  Heb. 
viii.  .5. 

t  Ep.  63.  ad  Ccecilium.  %  ^^  Bapt.  c.  9. 


219 

giveth  water  to  His  disciples.  This  testimony  to  water  endureth 
even  to  His  Passion.  When  He  is  given  over  to  the  cross,  water 
comes  in ;  witness  Pilate's  hands  ;  when  He  is  wounded,  water 
bursts  from  His  side  ;  witness  the  soldier's  spear." 

Of  these  instances,  two  chiefly  are  dwelt  upon  by  the  ancient 
Church,  the  one  from  the  beginning,  the  other  from  the  close  of  His 
public  life  for  us,  His  Baptism,  and  the  water  which  burst  from  His 
sacred  side.  These  same  two  instances  have,  very  remarkably,  been 
recognized  by  our  own  Church  ;  and  that  the  more  so,  since  the 
prayer  in  which  reference  is  made  to  His  Baptism  formed  no  por- 
tion of  our  ancient  baptismal  service,  but  was  incorporated  into  it  at 
the  Reformation,  from  an  ancient  ritual  of  Germany.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  noticed  that  the  Lutheran  bodies,  remaining  faithful 
to  the  ancient  doctrine  of  Baptism,  retained  the  allusion  to  the  Bap- 
tism of  our  Lord,  as  "  hallowing  water  to  the  mystical  washing 
away  of  sins ;"  the  Reformed  or  Zuingli-Calvinistic  bodies  omitted 
it.*  Even  this  might  suggest  that  the  recognition  of  a  mysterious 
relation  between  our  Lord's  Baptism  and  the  sacramental  efficacy  of 
water  as  the  element  of  ours,  is  not  a  mere  insulated  opinion,  but  is 
in  some  way  bound  up  with  the  habit  of  mind,  which  receives  faith- 
fully the  doctrine  of  Baptism  itself.  The  same  habit  which  regard- 
ed as  fanciful  this  connection,  accredited  by  a  constant  tradition, 
rejected  also,  under  the  title  mystical,  the  mysterious  efficacy  of  the 
Sacraments. 

The  belief  of  the  ancient  Church  on  these  two  mysterious  acts, 
is  thus  embodied  then  in  our  Baptismal  Service  :  of  our  Lord's 
Baptism  our  Church  prays  to  God,  "Who  by  the  Baptism  of  His 
well-beloved  Son  Jesus  did  sanctify  water  to  the  mystical  washing 
away  of  sin."  The  issuing  of  the  water  and  Blood  from  His  sacred 
side,  she  unites  with  His  command  to  His  disciples  to  baptize  all 
nations,  as  containing  also  a  sanction  of  Baptism,  and  a  hallowing 
of  water  to  that  end.  "  Almighty,  Ever-living  God,  whose  most 
dearly  beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins, 
did  slied  out  of  His  most  precious  side  both  water  and  blood,  and 
gave  commandment  to  His  disciples,  &c.,  regard,  we  beseech  Thee, 
the  supplication  of  Thy  congregation  ;  sanctify  this  water  to  the 
mystical  washing  away  of  sin."  In  the  Litany  she  reverts  to  the 
Baptism  of  our  Lord,  as  a  special  instance  of  His  mercy  ;  and,  amid 
other  chief  acts  of  His  life  and  death  for  us,  implores  Him  "  by  His 
Baptism,"  to  "  deliver  us." 

Of  both  these  acts,  it  is  remarkable  that  this  meaning,  upon 
which  the  Church  has  dwelt,  is  no  where  alluded  to  in  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. The  issuing  of  the  water  and  blood  from  His  side  St.  John 
records,  and  manifests  His  sense  of  the  mystery  by  the  solemn  as- 

*  See  Comparison  of  Baptismal  Liturgies  in  Note  (M)  at  the  end. 


220 

sertion,  wherewith  He  stops  to  dwell  upon  it  :*  "  And  he  that  saw 
it  bare  record,  and  his  record  is  true  ;  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith 
true,  that  ye  might  believe."  But  what  meaning  it  had,  or  whether 
it  had  many  meanings,  he  hints  not,  neither  here,  nor  where  he  refers 
to  it  as  a  fact  containing  doctrine  ;t  "  There  are  three  that  bear  wit- 
ness on  earth,  the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the  blood,  and  these 
three  agree  in  one."  So  also  with  regard  to  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord. 
One  purport  of  it  our  Lord  Himself  mentions,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
scruples  of  the  reluctant  Baptist;  "Suffer  now;  for  thus  it  be- 
cometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  ;"  but  how  much  was  contained 
in  these  words ;  what  was  the  extent  of  the  principle  contained  in 
them  ;  whether  it  be  a  part  of  the  "righteousness"  thus  "  fulfilled," 
that  our  human  nature  should  be  sanctified  in  this  Baptism  of  our 
Lord,  is  not  to  be  collected  from  the  passage  itself.  Its  first  and  ob- 
vious sense  is,  that  since  "  the  Baptism  of  John"  was  "  of  God,"  it 
became  Him,  as  being  born  in  the  people  to  whom  God  had  given 
it,  to  submit  Himself  to  it  as  the  Ordinance  of  God.:]:  But  then 
other  grounds  might  be  included  in  this,  as  involved  in  the  character 
and  person  of  Him  who  did  thus  submit  Himself.  The  words  may 
have  been  left,  of  purpose,  undefined,  in  order  to  comprehend  the 
more.  "  He  added  not,"  says  St.  Jerome,  "  the  righteousness  of 
the  law,  or  of  nature,  that  we  might  understand  both."  The  "  right- 
eousness fulfilled"  was  in  Him  humility,'^  surpassing  all  thought,  in 

*  c.  xix.  35. 

t  1  Ep.  v.  8. 

I  See  Newman's  Sermons,  vol.  ii.  Serm.  7.  on  this  text. 

^  "  What  meaneth  '  fulfil  all  righteousness  V  I  came  to  die  for  men,  should 
I  not  be  baptized  for  men  ^  What  meaneth  '  fulfil  all  righteousness  V  fulfil 
all  humility.  Should  not  He  receive  Baptism  from  a  good  servant,  Wlio  re- 
ceived His  Passion  at  the  hands  of  evil  servants  V — Aug.  Tr.  4.  in  Joh.  5  14. 
"  If  He  were  to  show  the  way  of  humility,  and  to  make  Himself  the  very  way 
of  humility,  in  all  things  humility  was  to  be  fulfilled  by  Him." — Id.  Tr.  5.  5  3. 
&  }  8.  "  That  the  Lord  might  give  us  an  example  of  humility,  to  receive  the 
saving  grace  of  Baptism,  Christ  received  what  He  needed  not,  but  what  was 
needed  for  our  sakes." — lb.  5  5-  "  He  did  not  say  simply  '  suffer,'  but  added 
*now.'  For  it  shall  not  ever  be  so,  but  thou  shalt  see  Me  in  that  state  thou 
longest  for,  but  now  await  it.  Then  further  he  shows  how  this  is  '  fitting;' 
because.  He  saith,  I  fulfil  the  whole  law,  (for  this  is  meant  by  all  righteous- 
ness, for  righteousness  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  commandments.)  '  Since  then 
I  have  fulfilled  the  other  commandments,  and  this  alone  remains,  it  also  must 
be  added.  For  I  came  to  undo  the  curse,  appointed  for  the  transgression  of 
the  law.  I  must  then  remove  it,  by  first  fulfilling  it  wholly,  and  taking  you 
from  under  the  curse.  It  becometh  me  then  to  fulfil  the  whole  law,  since  it 
is  becoming  that  I  should  undo  the  curse  written  against  you  in  the  law; 
for,  therefore,  also  did  I  take  flesh,  and  am  come.'" — Chrys.  Hom.  12.  in 
Matt.  5  1.  "  Lastly,  John  would  fain  not  baptize  Him,  as  God,  and  so  He 
teaches  that  as  man  it  should  take  place  in  Him.  WTience  there  follows,  but 
Jesus  answering,  said  to  him,  '  Suffer  now.'  Well  said  He  '  now,'  show- 
ing that  Christ  was  to  be  baptized  by  John  in  water,  John  by  Christ  in  the 


221 

that,  while  God,  He  received  the  Baptism  of  the  sinners  whose  na- 
ture He  had  taken  ;  in  Him  it  was  "  love,"*  which  is  the  "  fulfilling 
of  the  law,"  in  that  He  received  that  which  He  needed  not,  that 
they  who  need  it,  might  the  gladlier  receive  it ;  and  so  it  may  be 
also,  that  He  was  baptized  not  only  to  give  an  example  of  obedi- 
ence, or  healthfully  to  shame  those  who  to  their  destruction  would 
have  disdained  it,t  but  in  it  to  "  fulfil  all  righteousness,"  by  cleans- 
ing the  sinful  nature,  in  the  hkeness  whereof  He  had  come,  and  to 
impart  to  it,  as  a  whole,  the  righteousness^  which  He  should  after- 
Spirit.  Or  else,  '  suffer  now,'  that  since  I  have  taken  the  form  of  a  servant, 
I  may  fulfil  his  humility  also ;  else,  know  that  in  the  day  of  judgment,  you 
must  be  baptised  with  My  Baptism;  '  Suffer  now,'  saith  the  Lord,  I  have  also 
another  Baptism  wherewith  also  I  am  to  be  baptized.  Thou  baptizest  me 
with  water,  that  I  may  baptize  thee  for  Myself  in  thy  own  blood."  Jer.  ad  loc. 

*  "The  cause  of  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord,  the  Lord  Himself  declares,  say- 
ing, '  Thus  becometh  it  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  V  What  is  righteousness 
else  than  that  what  thou  wiliest  another  should  do  for  thee,  thou  shouldest 
thyself  first  do,  and  exhort  by  thy  example  ]  Let  no  one  then  decline  the 
Baptism  of  grace,  since  Christ  declined  not  the  Baptism  of  repentance." — 
Ambr.  Expos.  Ev.  sec.  Luc.  L.  2.  5  83,  90,  91.  abridged  by  Aquin.  Cat.  Aur. 
ad  Matt. 

fThis  is  a  frequent  topic  with  St.  Augustine,  in  consequence  of  the  Dona- 
tist  controversy,  e,  g.  "  He  deigned  to  give  authority  to  His  own  Baptism, 
that  the  servants  might  know  with  what  alacrity  they  should  haste  to  the  Bap- 
tism of  the  Lord,  when  Himself  disdained  not  to  receive  the  Baptism  of  a 
servant." — Aug.  in  Joh.  Tr.  5.  5  3.  "  Needed  the  Lord  to  be  baptized  1  I 
answer,  needed  the  Lord  to  be  born  ?  needed  the  Lord  to  be  crucified  ?  needed 
the  Lord  to  die  1  needed  the  Lord  to  be  buiied  ?  If  then  He  took  on  Him  so 
much  lowliness  for  us,  should  He  not  Baptism  also  1  And  what  profited  it, 
to  receive  the  Baptism  of  the  servant?  that  thou  mayest  not  disdain  to  receive 
the  Baptism  of  the  Lord." — Id.  Tract.  4.  5  13.  "  The  Lord  came  also  to  re- 
commend humility  in  Baptism,  to  consecrate  his  own  sacrament.  For  He  so 
received  it,  now  adult,  as,  when  an  infant,  circumcision.  He  received  not  the 
wounds,  but  the  medicines  to  sanction  them." — Aug.  Serm.  293.  in  Nat.  Joh. 
Bapt.  7.  5  12.  "  That  if  God  received  Baptism  of  man,  no  one  should  disdain 
to  receive  it  of  a  fellow  servant." — Jerome  in  Matt. 

I  "  The  Lord  was  baptized  then,  not  seeking  to  be  cleansed,  but  to  cleanse 
the  waters,  that  being  washed  by  the  Flesh  of  Christ,  which  knew  no  sin,  they 
might  have  the  privilege  of  washing.  And,  therefore,  doth  he  who  cometh  to 
the  laver  of  Christ,  put  away  all  sin." — Ambr.  Exp.  Ev.  sec.  Luc.  L.  ii.  J  83. 
"  All  water  healeth  not,  but  water  healeth  which  hath  the  grace  of  Christ. 
Water  healeth  not,  unless  the  Spirit  descend,  and  consecrate  that  water,  as 
thou  hast  read,  that  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gave  the  form  of  Baptism,  he 
came  to  John,  and — He  answered — so  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteous- 
ness.' Lo  !  how  all  righteousness  is  deposited  in  Baptism.  Why  then  did 
Christ  go  down,  save  that  that  flesh  might  be  cleansed,  the  flesh  which  He 
took  of  our  creation?" — Id.  de  Sacr.  L.  i.  c.  5.  5  15,  16.  "  If  Christ  washed 
Himself  for  us,  yea  washed  us  in  His  body,  how  much  more  ought  we  to  wash 
away  our  sins  !  By  what  deed  then,  by  what  mystery,  is  He  (although  in  all 
God)  more  proved  to  be  God  than  by  this,  when  throughout  the  whole  world, 
where  the  creation  of  the  human  race  is  spread  abroad,  through  the  several 
tracts  of  far  distant  countries,  in  one  moment,  in  One  Body,  God  destroyed 


222 

wards  communicate,  one  by  one,  to  those  who  came  to  the  Baptism 
which  He  had  thus  consecrated.  And  again,  "  all  righteousness" 
may  thereby  have  been  "  fulfilled"  in  it,  in  that  an  "  everlasting 
righteousness"  was  thereby  brought  in,  and  the  element  consecrated, 
whereby  the  justifying  efficacy  of  His  meritorious  Cross  and  Pas- 
sion were  to  be  conveyed  to  all  believers.  The  one  sense  will  not 
exclude  the  other  ;  as  of  all  our  blessed  Saviour's  actions  and  w^ords, 
it  is  to  be  believed  that  they  have  a  manifold  depth  and  meaning,  of 
which  each  application  brings  out  but  one  portion  ;  these  gifts  are  a 
"precious  stone,"  "whithersoever  it  turneth,  itprospereth," 

But  however  much  may  lie  wrapt  up  in  these  words  of  our  Lord, 
it  is  obvious  that  this  belief  of  the  ancient  Church,  which  our  own 
has  so  solemnly  adopted,  that  by  His  "  Baptism  He  sanctified  water 
to  the  mystical  washing  away  of  sin,"  was  not  derived  from  them. 
It  no  way  appears  in  them,  or  in  any  other  passage  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture ;  whether  really  contained  or  no,  it  could  not  have  been  in  the 
first  instance  obtained  from  them.  And  yet  it  is  taught  positively 
and  unhesitatingly,  not  as  a  conjecture,  but  as  a  doctrine  whereof 
they  were  fully  assured;  not  in  the  way  only  of  eloquent  or  pious  con- 
trast between  His  Baptism  and  ours,  but  as  a  practical  truth  ;  not  in 
order  to  account  for  the  strangeness  of  His  receiving  Baptism  at  the 

the  evil  of  the  primeval  fall,  poured  forth  the  grace  of  the  heavenly  kingdom  1 
For  One  went  down,  but  raised  up  all ;  One  descended,  that  we  might  all  as- 
cend ;  One  took  on  Him  the  sins  of  all,  that  in  Him  the  sins  of  all  might  die. 
Purify  yourselves,  then,  as  saith  the  Apostle,  for  He  purified  Himself  for  us, 
Who  needed  not  purifying." — Ambr.  Exp.  Ev.  sec.  Luc.  L.  ii.  {  91.  "The 
Lord  came  to  Baptism ;  for  He  was  made  all  things  for  thee." — L.  iv.  5  6. 
"  By  the  Baptism  of  Christ  were  we  baptized,  not  we  only,  but  the  whole 
world,  and  is  baptized  to  the  end." — Aug.  Tr.  4.  in  Joh.  5  14.  "  If  He  could 
be  baptized  on  other  grounds  than  all  others,  i.  e.  not  on  account  of  sinful  flesh 
which  He  had  not,  but  on  account  of  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  which  He 
had  taken  to  free  flesh  from  sin." — Id.  lib.  Imp.  c.  Juhan.  iv.  63.  "  By  being 
baptized  He  is  in  correspondence  with  (congruit)  the  penitent,  washing  away 
nothing  to  be  repented  of.  For  those  things  became  the  likeness  of  sinful 
flesh,  which  sinful  flesh  needed." — lb.  The  whole  human  race  was  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and,  therefore,  the  body  being  taken  as  the  organ  of  the  Spirit,  fulfilled 
in  itself  every  mystery  of  our  salvation.  He  came  then  to  John,  born  of  a 
woman,  placed  under  the  law,  and  through  the  Word  made  flesh.  Himself 
needed  not  that  washing,  for  of  Him  it  is  said,  '  He  did  no  sin,'  and  where 
there  is  no  sin,  there  remission  thereof  is  superfluous.  But  He  had  assumed 
both  the  body  and  the  name  of  our  created  being,  and  thus  not  He  had  any 
need  of  cleansing,  but  by  Him  was  the  cleansing  of  our  washing  in  water  to 
be  sanctified.  Lastly,  John  would  fain  forbid  Him  to  be  baptized,  as  God, 
and  so  He  teaches  that,  as  man,  it  should  take  place  in  Him.  For  all  righte- 
ousness was  to  be  fulfilled  by  Him,  by  Whom  alone  the  law  could  be  fulfilled. 
And  thus,  both  by  the  testimony  of  the  prophet  He  needed  not  Baptism,  and 
by  the  example  of  His  authority  He  perfects  the  mysteries  of  man's  salvation, 
sanctifying  man  both  by  taking  him  into  Himself  and  by  Baptism." — Hil.  c.  2. 
in  Matt.  5  5. 


223 

hands  of  His  creature,  but  as  doctrine  relating  to  us,  as  a  benefit 
conveyed  thereby  to  His  Church,  And  we  must  feel  that  they  were 
herein  superior  to  us,  in  that  they  so  looked  to  every  action  of  our 
Lord,  contemplated  each  with  so  much  reverence,  carried  with  them 
every  where  the  vivid  consciousness  that  He  whose  actions  or 
words  they  were  handling  or  beholding,  was  God.  Hence  they 
were  penetrated  with  awe  and  amazement,  where  moderns  drily 
find  an  abstract  evidence  of  His  Deity,  but  fall  not  down  at  His 
footstool,  who  could  so  humble  Himself  for  them,  as,  sinless  Him- 
self, to  receive  from  His  fallen  creature  the  Baptism  of  sinners. — 
The  ancients  dwelt  also  on  the  revelation  of  the  Trinity  therein,  but 
adored  them  for  the  work  of  mercy,  in  hallowing  our  Baptism,  and 
cleansing  our  defilements,*  They  humbled  themselves  at  His  feet, 
and  what  modems  regard  almost  as  a  thing  of  course,  they  felt  to  be 
an  exceeding  mystery  ;  they  were  never  weary  of  going  over  the 
facts  of  this  amazing  condescension,  contrasting  His  greatness  with 
our  lowliness,  and  with  His  own  voluntary  lowliness  in  so  stooping  to 
us  who  lay  thus  low.  "The  Lord,"  says  St.  Chrysostome,t  "cometh 
to  be  baptized  with  the  slaves,  the  Judge  with  the  criminals.  But 
be  not  troubled.  For  in  these  lowlinesses  doth  His  greatness  most 
shine  forth.  For  He  who  endured  so  long  to  be  borne  in  the  Vir- 
gin's womb,  and  to  issue  thence  with  our  nature,  and  to  be  bufieted, 
to  be  crucified,  and  to  suffer  all  the  rest  which  He  suffered,  why 
marvel  that  He  endured  to  be  baptized,  and  with  the  rest  to  come  to 
His  slave  ?  For  that  was  the  amazing  act,  that  being  God  he  willed 
to  become  man,  but  all  the  rest  followed,  as  it  were,  in  order."  And 
St.  Augustine,!  "  John  baptizeth  Christ,  the  servant  the  Jjord,  the 
voice  the  Word,  the  creature  the  Creator,  the  shining  light  the  sun, 
but  the  Sun  who  made  this  sun,  the  Sun  of  whom  it  is  written, 
'  The  Sun  of  Righteousness  ariseth,  and  healing  is  in  His  wings.' 
He  so  great  would  be  baptized  by  one  so  low,  in  a  word  the  Saviour 
by  him  He  was  to  save."  Again,  St,  Hilary,^  "  The  Only-Begot- 
ten God,  the  Remitter  of  sins,  the  Lord  of  the  everlasting  kingdom, 
demands  to  be  baptized  as  a  sinner.  The  Baptist  refused  the  office, 
acknowledging  Him  rather  as  the  Remitter  of  his  sins.  But  He 
fulfilled  the  righteousness  of  the   man  whom  He   had  taken   into 

*  E.  g.  Syriac  Hymn.  Apostolic  Liturgy,  Ass.  i.  257.  Severus,  ii.  287. 
"  A  fountain  of  life  is  opened,  Baptism ;  and  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  by  His  mercy  sanctified  it.  The  Father  by  His  voice,  This  is 
My  Beloved  Son  ;  and  the  Son,  Who  bowed  His  Head,  and  was  baptized 
therein;  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  who,  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  lighted  upon  it.  Ho- 
ly Trinity,  by  Whom  the  worlds  live,  Halleluia,  cleanse  our  defilements." 

f  Hom.  xii.  in  Matt.  init. 

i  Serm.  292.  de  Nat.  Joh.  Bapt.  6-  ,H- 

\  In  Ps.  138.  5  6.  The  same  characterruns  through  the  hymns  in  the  Syriac 
liturgies. 


224 

Himself,  ill  the  sacrament  of  Baptism  also,  and,  Himself  knowing 
no  sin,  refuses  not  to  become  partaker  of  our  sin  ;  and  taking  all 
the  lowliness  of  our  frail  flesh  upon  Him,  enters  the  Jordan,  mixed 
with  the  crowds  of  sinners." 

And  this  awe  at  our  Saviour's  condescension  was  connected  with 
the  appreciation  of  their  own  Baptism ;  the  vivid  sense  of  it,  as  the 
appointed  "  fountain  for  the  cleansing  of  sin,  and  of  uncleanness," 
made  it  the  more  amazing  that  He  should  have  submitted  to  it  at  the 
hands  of  the  sinners  He  came  to  cleanse.  On  the  other  hand, 
their  own  Baptism  became  the  more  precious  to  them,  because  He 
had  not  only  instituted,  but  consecrated  it  by  Himself  receiving  it. 
They  viewed  their  own  Baptism  in  the  light  shed  on  it  by  their  Sa' 
viour's  ;  felt  assured  of  its  greatness,  because  He  also  had  received 
Baptism,  and  they  were  therein  partakers  with  Him  ;  doubted  not 
that  the  very  element  had,  by  its  contact  with  Him  in  this  His  con- 
descension, received  a  degree  of  sanctity  and  fitness  to  be  a  vehicle 
of  spiritual  gifts ;  believed  that  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  therein 
upon  themselves  and  their  children,  because  He  therein  "  descend- 
ed* upon  the  Son  of  God,  become  the  Son  of  man,  accustoming 
Himself  in  Him  to  dwell  in  the  human  race,  and  to  abide  in  man, 
and  to  dwell  in  the  work  of  God,  working  the  will  of  the  Father  in 
them,  and  renewing  them  from  their  decay  to  the  newness  of 
Christ."  "  Thef  voice  spake  from  heaven,  that  from  the  things  re- 
alized in  Christ  we  might  know  that  after  the  washing  in  water, 
the  Holy  Spirit  lights  upon  us  also,  that  we  are  bedewed  with  the 
anointing  of  heavenly  glory,  and  by  the  adoption  of  the  voice  of  the 
Father  become  sons  of  God,  since  the  Truth  thus,  in  the  very 
things  wrought  as  to  Him,  formed  beforehand  an  image  of  the  mys- 
tery ordained  for  us."  They  believed  the  rather  that  they  were  then 
made  sons  of  God,  because  he  was  then  declared  to  be  the  well-be- 
loved Son  of  God.  And  thus  were  we  indeed  brought  near  to  Christ, 
bathed  in  the  same  element,  visited  by  the  same  Spirit  which  dwelt 
in  Him,  and  which  He  received  for  us,  made  sons  in  Him,  whose 

*Iren.  3.  17.  1.  In  like  vi^ay  St.  Augustine  : — "It  w^ere  most  absurd  to 
think,  that  when  thirty  years  old  He  had  not  received  the  Holy  Spirit.  But 
He  came  to  Baptism,  as  without  sin,  so  not  without  the  Holy  Spirit.  For  if 
it  is  written  of  John,  '  he  shall  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  from  his  mother's 
womb,'  what  must  we  believe  of  the  man  Christ,  whose  very  earthly  concep- 
tion was  not  carnal  but  spiritual !  So  that  He  prefigured  His  body,  i.  e.  the 
Church,  in  which  the  baptized  especially  receive  the  Holy  Spirit."  (De 
Trin.  xv.  \  46.  abridged  by  Aquinas)  and  Jerome  ad  loc.  "  On  three  grounds 
did  the  Saviour  receive  Baptism  from  John.  First.  That  since  He  was  born 
as  man,  He  might  fulfil  all  the  righteousness  and  humility  of  the  law.  Second' 
ly.  That  by  His  Baptism  He  might  ratify  the  Baptism  of  John.  Thirdly, 
That  sanctifying  the  waters  of  Jordan,  by  the  descent  of  the  Dove,  He  might 
set  forth  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  laver  of  believers." 

t  Hil.  c.  2.  inMatt.  5  6. 


225 

eternal  Sonship  was  then  set  forth,  whose  human  nature  was,  per- 
haps, then  visibly  taken  as  the  Son  of  God  ;*  and  the  heavens,  so 
long  closed  by  Adam's  transgression,  were  indeed  in  Him  opened  to 
us  and  all  believers,  "  Thent  the  heavens  were  opened,  and  the 
Spirit  descended.  For  He  transplants  us  from  our  old  life  to  the 
new,  having  both  opened  the  doors  above  to  us,  and  sending  the 
Spirit  thence,  calling  us  to  our  country  there,  and  not  simply  calling, 
but  also  with  the  highest  dignity.  For  He  made  us  not  angels  and 
archangels,  but  having  constituted  us  sons  of  God  and  beloved,  so 
doth  He  draw  us  to  that  inheritance."  They  saw  herein  not  mere 
types,  images,  interesting  and  beautiful  resemblances  and  approxi- 
mations, but  a  mutual  relation  between  our  Lord's  Baptism  and 
ours,  so  that  the  rites  of  ours  were  formed  upon  His,|  were  a  re- 
flection of  it ;  His  received  the  gifts,  which  were  bestowed  upon 
ours,  and  was  to  us  the  pledge  and  first  channel  of  those  gifts.  "  To 
wash^  away  His  own  sins  was  not  needed  for  Christ,  who  did  no  sin, 
but  for  us  it  was  needed,  who  abide  .liable  to  sin.  If  then  He  re- 
ceived Baptism  for  us,  a  form  is  set  forth  for  us,  and  is  proposed  to 
our  faith.  Christ  descended ;  John,  who  baptized,  stood  by,  and 
lo  !  the  Holy  Spirit  descended,  as  it  were  a  dove.  Christ  descend- 
ed, the  Holy  Spirit  also  descended.  Why  did  Christ  first  descend, 
the  Holy  Spirit  afterwards,  whereas  the  form  and  rite  of  Baptism  is 
so  ordered,  that  the  font  is  first  consecrated,  and  then  he  who  is  to 
be  baptized  descends  therein  ?  For  the  priest,  as  soon  as  he  enters, 
makes  the  exorcism  upon  the  creature,  water,  afterwards  offers  the 
invocation  and  prayer,  that  the  font  may  be  sanctified,  and  there 
may  come   down  the  Presence  of  the  Eternal  Trinity ;  but  Christ 

*  "  He  Who  was  born  man  of  the  Virgin,  was  then  also  the  Son  of  God,  but 
He  who  is  the  Son  of  Man  was  also  the  Son  of  God.  But  He  was  again  born 
of  Baptism,  and  then  was  He  the  Son  of  God,  so  as  to  be  born  to  be  the  very 
same,  and  yet  another.  But  it  is  written,  when  He  had  gone  up  out  of  the 
water,  '  Thou  art  My  Son,  This  day  have  I  begotten  Thee.'  But  in  confor- 
mity to  the  generation  of  man  when  re-born.  Himself  also  there  was  re-born 
to  be  perfectly  a  Son,  that  as  He  had  taken  upon  Him  to  be  son  of  man,  so 
to  become  in  Baptism  the  Son  of  God." — Hil.  in  Ps.  2.  5  29. 

t  St.  Chrys.  in  Matt.  Hom.  xii.  and  again, — "  Why  were  the  heavens  open- 
ed 1  that  thou  mayst  know  that  this  takes  place  also  when  thou  art  baptized^ 
God  calling  thee  to  the  country  above,  and  persuading  thee  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  earth.  But  if  thou  seest  it  not,  be  not  therefore  unbelieving  ;  for 
in  the  beginnings  of  amazing  and  spiritual  things  there  are  always  exhibited 
sensible  sights,  and  such  signs,  for  their  sakes  who  cannot  entertain  any 
conception  of  an  incorporeal  nature,  that,  if  they  do  not  take  place  afterwards, 
men  may  believe  from  those  things  which  were  done  once."  So  Bede  in  Marc, 
ad  loc.  "  That  Christ  saw  the  heavens  opened  after  Baptism  was  done  for 
our  sake,  to  whom  the  gate  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  opened  by  the  bath 
of  the  regenerating  water." 

%  "  Cluist  was  baptized  in  Jordan,  when  He  instituted  the  form  of  saving 
Baptism." — Ambr.  de  interpell.  David,  c.  4.  { 14. 

§  Ambr.  de  Sacram.  L.  1.  c.  5.  }  16 — 19. 
VOL.  II. 8 


226 

first  descended,  then  followed  the  Spirit.  Why  ?  That  it  might 
not  seem  as  though  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  needed  the  mystery  of 
sanctification,  but  Himself  sanctified,  the  Spirit  also  sanctified. — ■ 
Christ  then  descended  into  the  water  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  also  descend- 
ed, as  it  were,  a  dove.  God  the  Father  also  spake  from  heaven. 
Thou  hast  the  presence  of  the  Trinity," 

The  feelings  of  the  universal  Church  are  again  attested  by  its 
liturgies;  every  baptismal  hturgy  of  the  ancient  Church  adverts  to 
the  Baptism  of  our  Lord,  as  their  title  and  plea  for  praying  that  the 
water  might  be  consecrated  "  to  the  mystical  washing  away  of  sin," 
i.  e.  they  plead  this  to  the  Father,  as  they  plead  His  Institution  for 
the  consecration  of  the  sacred  elements  in  His  other  Sacrament;  other 
points  they  dwell  upon  more  or  less  according  to  their  relative  ful- 
ness. His  holiness,  His  condescension,  the  awfulness  of  man  baptiz- 
ing Him  who  is  His  God,  His  Deity,  His  Incarnation,  the  Voice  of 
the  Father,  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  opening  of  the  hea- 
vens, the  adoration  of  the  Church,  her  sanctification,  the  image  of  our 
Baptism,  its  consecration,  the  pledge  of  our  Resurrection,  our  son- 
ship  to  the  Father,  the  Presence  of  the  Trinity.  She  seems  to 
linger  by  her  Saviour's  Baptism,  to  revolve  it  again  and  again,  un- 
willing to  be  parted  from  the  gracious  act,  so  full  of  mystery  on  every 
side,  of  ineffable  condescension,  and  consolation.* 

*  LATIN.l 

Gelasjus  (Ass.  ii.  4,)  probably  Gregorian  (ib.  8,)  Roman  (33,)  Chelle,  &c.  53.  sqq. 

Consecration. 
•'  I  bless  thee  through  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son  our  LorJ,  Who  was  baptized  in  thee  by 
John  in  Jordan." 


1  The  Roman  Baptismal  Liturgy  is  altogether  much  briefer  than  the  Eastern  ;  what 
is  wanting  to  it  in  fulness  on  this  subject  is  however  supplied  by  the  service  for  the 
Epiphanj . 

Hymn. — "  The  heavenly  Lamb  touched  the  waters  of  the  pure  stream  ;  the  sins, 
which  He  brought  not,  by  washing  us  He  removed.  R.  To-day  to  the  Lord  baptized 
in  Jordan  were  the  heavens  opened,  and,  as  a  dove,  the  Spirit  abode  upon  Him,  and  the 
voice  of  the  Father  thundered,  '  This  is  My  Beloved  Son,  in  Whom  I  am  well-pleased, 
V.  The  Holy  Spirit  in  a  bodily  shape  like  a  dove,  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  Him, 
and  there  was  a  voice  from  heaven,  'This,  &c.' 

R.  "  In  the  form  of  a  dove  the  Holy  Spirit  was  seen,  the  voice  of  the  Father  was 
heard,  '  This,  &c.'  V.  The  heavens  were  opened  over  Him,  and  the  voice  of  the  Fa- 
ther thundered,  '  This,  &c.' 

Antiph. — "  To-day  the  Church  was  united  to  the  Heavenly  Bridegroom,  because  in 
Jordan  Christ  washed  away  her  sins  ;  the  magi  haste  with  gifts  to  the  royal  nuptials, 
and  the  guests  are  gladdened  by  wine  made  from  water.     Alleluia." 

Another. — "  We  reverence  the  holy  day  honored  with  three  miracles  :  to-day  the  star 
led  the  magi  to  the  manger  ;  today  wine  was  made  from  water  for  the  nuptials  ;  to-day 
Christ  willed  to  be  baptized  by  John  in  Jordan,  that  He  might  save  us.  Allel." 

Lesson  from  S.  Maximus. — "They  tell,  that  Christ  our  Lord  was  to-day  worshipped 
by  the  Gentiles,  the  star  guiding,  and  invited  to  the  nuptials,  turned  the  water  into  wine, 
and  receiving  Baptism  of  John,  sanctified  the  streams  of  Jordan,  and  at  the  same  time 


227 

GOTHIC. 

ii.  34.  35. 

"  O  God,  Who  sanctifiedst  the  font  of  Jordan  for  the  salvation  of  souls. — Thou,  Who 
ihrough  the  condescension  of  Christ,  Thy  Son,  sanctifiest  the  streams  of  Jordan,  Sanc- 
tify, O  Lord  !  the  waters  of  this  fountain,  that  they  who  descend  therein,  in  the  Name 
tjf  the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  may  be  thought  worthy  to  obtain  for- 
giveness o[  sins,  and  the  infusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

GREEK. 

Intercessory  Prayer. 

ii.  132. 

'*  That  this  water  may  be  sanctified  by  the  power,  and  operation,  and  coming  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  pray  we  the  Lord.  That  there  be  sent  down  into  it,  the  grace  of  redemp- 
tion, the  blessmg  of  Jordan." 

Consecration. 
if.  136,  7.  and  abridged,  148. 

"  Thou  art  our  God,  wert  seen  on  earth,  and  wentest  about  among  men.  Thou  didst 
doth  sanctify  the  waters  of  Jordan,  having  sent  down  Thy  Holy  Spirit  from  heaven,  and 
didst  '  break  in  pieces  the  heads  of  the  dragons'  which  lurked  there.  Be  present  then 
now  Thyself,  0  merciful  King,  by  the  commg  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  and  bless  this  water  ; 
(Thrice)  and  give  it  the  grace  of  redemption,  the  blessing  of  Jordan.  Make  it  a  fount  of 
immortality,  gift  of  sanctiiication,  &c." 

ARMENIAN, 

Intercessory  Prayer. 

ii.  197. 

"  That  this  present  water  may,  by  the  cooperation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  sanctified, 
pray  we  the  Lord.  That  it  may  receive  the  blessings  of  the  Jordan,  ['  through  the  grace 
of  the  Only  Begotten,  pray  we,'  &c.  206.]  and  be  to  the  health  of  body  and  soul,  pray 
we  the  Lord," 

Consecration. 
ii.  199. 

'*  Send  forth,  we  pray  Thee,  0  Lord,  Thy  Holy  Spirit  into  this  water,  and  sanctify  it, 
as  Thou  sanctifiedst  the  Jordan,  descending  into  it,  most  clean  from  sins,  O  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  to  consecrate  this  fount  of  Baptism  for  all  men." 


purified  his  baptizer.  We  must  believe,  that  whatever  took  place,  took  place  for  us. — 
For  in  that  the  Lamb  of  God  was  baptized,  the  saving  gift  of  regenerating  Baptism  was 
consecrated  for  us." 

from  S.  Gregory,  of  Nazianzum. — "  Christ  is  Baptized,  let  us  also  descend 

with  Him,  that  with  Him  we  may  likewise  ascend.  John  baptizeth,  and  Christ  ap- 
proacheth,  sanctifying  him  also  who  baptizeth,  but  chiefly  to  bury  the  old  Adam  in  the 
waters,  and  above  all,  that  thereby  the  waters  of  Jordan  might  be  sanctified,  that  as  he- 
was  Spirit  and  flesh,  so  on  those,  hereafter  to  be  baptized,  sanctification  in  '  water  and 
the  Spirit'  might  be  successively  bestowed.  The  Baptist  declines  :  Jesus  urges  ;  '  I,' 
saith  He,  '  hath  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee."  The  burning  light  speaketh  to  the  Sun, 
and  the  voice  to  the  Word," 


2^8 

Another  Jorm. 

ii.  207. 

"  We  beseech  Thy  immense  loving-kindness,  look  upon  Thy  creatures,  and  this  water, 
and  send  Thy  gifts  and  blessing,  as  Thou  sentest  upon  Jordan,  the  great,  mighty,  health' 
ful  salvation,  and  the  most  gracious  might  of  Thy  cross." 

COPTIC; 

Consecration. 

ii.  166. 

"  Since  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Who  descending  into  Jordan, 
cleansed  its  streams,  dec." 

Hymn. 
ii.  167  and  180. 

"  Lo  !  John  Baptist  bare  witness,  saying,  I  indeed  baptized  my  Saviour  in  the  wat  era 
of  Jordan,  and  heard  the  voice  of  the  Father,  saying,  This  is  My  Beloved  Son,  in  Wh  om 
I  am  well  pleased  ;  Wh®  hath  fulfilled  all  My  will  ;  hear  Him,  for  He  is  the  Giver  of 
life. 

"  Thou,  Who  wert  baptized  in  the  water  of  the  river  Jordan,  forgive  our  sins." 

168. 

"  Now  then,  Our  Lord,  Lord  of  hosts.  King  of  the  armies  of  heaven,  look  down, 
'  Thou  that  sittest  above  the  cherubim,  show  Thyself,'  and  behold  this  water  Thy  crea- 
ture, and  give  it  the  grace  of  the  Jordan,  and  power  and  heavenly  strength,  and  by  Thy 
Holy  Spirit  descending  upon  it,  give  it  the  blessing  of  the  Jordan,  Amen :  Give  it  strength 
to  become  a  life-giving  water,  Amen :  a  sanctifying  water,  Amen,  &c." 

SYRIAC. 

'Apostolic,  i.  262.  by  Severus,  ii.  268. 
"  God,  Who  through  His  love  became  man,  needing  not  to  come  to  Baptism,  but  that 
He  might  sanctify  the  waters  of  Jordan  by  His  mercy — Son  of  Majesty,  Who  of  his  own 
will,  in  His  mercy,  bowed  His  head  before  the  hands  of  the  Baptist,  and  the  Father, 
Who  from  above  spake,  '  This  is  My  Beloved  Son,  in  Whom  I  am  well-pleased  ;'  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  bodily  shape  as  of  a  dove,  descended  and  abode  on  His  head.  Do 
Thou,  Lord,  as  by  Thy  Baptism  Thou  clothedst  us  with  the  robe  of  glory,  and  the  im- 
press of  the  Holy  and  life-giving  Spirit — " 

["  by  His  Baptism  from  the  waters  of  Jordan  sanctify  us,"  ii.  268.] 

Consecration  of  Font. 

Antioch  and  Jerus.  ii.  218  &  228. 

"  Thou  by  Thy  might  settest  fast  the  sea  ;  Thou  bruisedst  the  heads  of  the  dragons 

upon  the  waters ;  Thou  art  terrible ;  who  shall  resist  Thee  1  Behold  Thou  these  waters. 

Thy  creature,  and  give  them  the  grace  of  redemption  t,  the  blessing  of  Jordan  t ,  the 

sanctification  of  the  Spirit." 

lb.  ii.  223  &  232. 
"  Thou  Who  upon  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son,  God  and  the  Word,  Who  on  earth  ful- 
filled the  dispensation  of  Baptism,  sentest  thy  Holy  Spirit  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove,  and 
sanctifiedst  the  streams  of  Jordan." 

Jerusalem,  ii.  226,  7.  258.     Apostolic  by  Severus,  290. 
"  Thou  gavest  us  a  fount  of  true  cleansing,  which  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin,  the  waters 


229 

which  are  sanctified  by  the  invocation  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  whereby  we  receive  that 
cleansing  which  was  given  us  by  the  Baptism  of  Thy  Christ." 

Apostolic  by  Severus,  ii.  291. 
Invocation  of  Holy  Spirii. 
"  How  awful  is  this  hour,  how  fearful  this  time,  beloved,  wherein  the  living  and  Holy 
Spirit  moveth,  and  descendeth,  and  broodeth,  and  abideth  upon  the  waters,  and  sancti- 
fieth  them,  as  the  streams  of  Jordan  were  sanctified." 

lb.  ii.  295. 

"  Thou,  Who  upon  Thy  Only-Begotten  Son,  God  the  Word,  Who  made  on  earth  the 
ordinance  of  Baptism,  sentest  Thy  Holy  Spirit,"  &c. 

lb.    ii.  302, 

"  O  good  God,  lover  of  mankind,  merciful  Lord,  abundant  in  mercy  and  compassion, 
Who  sanctifiedst  by  Thy  descent  the  waters  of  Jordan,  and  by  the  coming  of  Thy  Holy 
Spirit." 

Maronite,  James  of  Sarug.  ii.  314. 

"  Thou,  Who  didst  dawn  from  the  Father,  and  openedst  to  us  Baptism,  Thou  Most 
High,  Who  earnest  down,  and  consecratedst  water  by  Thy  Baptism. 

"  In  the  heaven  Thy  glory  thundereth  from  the  angels,  sons  of  fire  ;  and  the  sons  of 
men  on  earth  rejoice  in  the  day  of  Thy  Baptism." 

lb.  ii.  316. 

"  What  is  that  which  of  water  beareth  servants,  who  descend  therein  old  men,  and 
become  again  little  children  ;  which  remitteth  debts,  and  forgiveth  sins ;  which  maketh 
men  sons  of  God  T  It  is  the  Baptism  of  truth  ;  which  John  preached,  and  Christ  went 
down  and  was  baptized  therein  for  the  forgiveness  of  the  world.  Halleluia.  Forgive  us, 
O  Lord." 

lb.  ii.  328,  9. 

"  Glory  to  Thee,  our  Lord,  Who  becamest  our  Shepherd,  and  gatheredst  us,  wert 
baptized  and  cleansedst  us.  Thy  mercies,  0  our  Lord,  inclined  Thee,  Thy  goodness 
constrained  Thee,  to  be  clad  in  our  flesh,  and  baptized  by  John  in  Jordan,  and  sanctify 
to  us  this  holy  Baptism  by  Thy  holy  Baptism.  Pray  we  the  Lord,  Who  came  from  the 
highest  heavens,  that  He  might  remit  the  debt  of  the  sons  of  Adam  by  the  holy  Baptism 
of  the  Glorious  Deity." 

lb.  ii.  338. 

"  Wholly  He  abode  with  Thee,  and  wholly  He  came  to  us.  And  having  no  need,  and 
no  deficiency.  He  was  baptized  in  the  river  Jordan,  and  sanctified  to  us  this  womb  of 
Baptism." 

Malabar. 

i.  178. 

"  But  the  holy  first  fruits,  which  he  took  of  our  race,  He  brought  to  Baptism  in  the 

river  Jordan  by  John  the  preacher  ;  and  as  in  an  image.  He  depicted  and  showed  tous 

in  His  holy  Baptism,  the  true  Resurrection  and  renewal  which  shall  in  deed  be  given  to 

us  at  the  end  of  this  world." 

i.  188. 
**  The  Friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  seeing  amid  the  crowds  the  Living  Lamb  coming  to 


530 

be  baptized,  exclaimed  with  awe, '  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee.'  And  the  crowds 
with  fear  gazed  on  the  living  mystery  of  Baptism." 

i.  192. 

"Thy  Baptism  in  water  sanctified  our  souls,  and  announced  our  resurrection.  The 
spiritual  with  John  stood  with  great  astonishment.  He  who  sanctifies  the  people  with 
His  Baptism,  Himself  received  Baptism  from  His  servant  that  He  might  redeem  the 
human  race." 

Antioch  revised,  i.  226.     Apostolic  by  Severus,  ii.  286. 

Hymn. 

"John  mingled  the  waters  of  Baptism,  and  Christ  sanctified  them,  and  descended, 

aid  was  baptized  in  them.  When  He  ascended  out  of  the  waters,  heaven  and  earth  paid 

Him  reverence.     The  sun  bowed  his  rays,  and  worshipped  before  Him,  Who  hallowed 

all  streams  and  fountains.    Hallel.  Hallel." 

Apostolic  by  James  of  Edessa,  i.  241.  3. 
Part  of  Hymn. 
"  Then  the  Bridegroom  revealed  Hrmself,  and  descended  to  John  to  the  river  ;  the 
herald  feared,  and  said  to  the  bride,  '  This  is  He  in  Whom  I  bid  thee  trust.'  '  Son  of 
the  Father,  why  should  I  baptize  Thee,  Who  art  in  Thy  Father,  and  Thy  Father  in 
Thee  ?  Thou  givest  to  priests  holy  things,  and  why  askest  Thou  for  mere  water  1' — 
'  The  sons  of  Adam  look  to  Me,  that  by  Me  they  may  become  new  sons.  O  son  of 
the  barren,  baptize  me  ;  therefore  came  I  into  the  world.'  '  High  Priests  are  sanctified 
by  Thee,  and  Priests  by  Thee  obtain  pardon  ;  Thou  makest  Christs  and  kings  ;  and 
what  should  Baptism  profit  TheeV  The  bride,  whom  I  have  betrothed,  awaiteth 
Me,  that  I  should  descend,  be  baptized  and  sanctify  her.  Friend  of  the  Bridegroom, 
excuse  not  thyself  from  the  appointed  bath.'  '  I,  a  poor  man,  cannot  hold  fire  in  my 
hands.  Behold  Thy  legions  are  flames  of  fire ;  bid  one  of  the  watchers  that  they  baptize 
Thee.'" 

lb.  i.  246. 
Part  of  Hymn. 
»  "  I  heard  the  voice  of  John  saying  to  the  Jordan,  *  Cleanse  thyself,  and  wash  away 
the  defilement  which  is  in  thee,  for  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  is  come  to  be  baptized. 
Halleluia.  And  to  sanctify  all.'  Lamb  of  God,  who  earnest  to  John,  and  by  Thy  Bap- 
tism sanctifiedst  waters,  make  Thv  peace  and  Thy  repose  to  dwell  in  the  four  quarters 
of  the  world,  and  keep  thy  Church  and  her  sons,  Halleluia,  from  ill." 

lb.  i.  259,  60. 
Part  of  Hymn. 

"  Thou  Who  by  Thy  Baptism  sanctifiedst  Baptism  to  us,  which  cleanseth  us  from  all 
filth  of  sin,  God  have  mercy  on  us. 

"  Thou  Who  by  Thy  Baptism  rejoicedst  heaven  and  earth,  gladden  Thy  Church,,  and 
keep  her  sons  by  Thy  Cross.     God,  &c. 

"Thou  Who  by  Thy  Baptism  sanctifiedst  Baptism,  the  mother  which  beareth  new 
sons  for  the  kingdom.     God,  &c. 

"  Thou  Whom  the  Church  saw,  as  Thou  wert  baptized  and  ascendest  out  of  the  wa- 
ters, and  adored  and  said,  '  Blessed  be  He  who  sent  Thee.'     God,  &c. 

"  Thou  W^ho  wert  baptized  and  ascendedst  out  of  the  waters,  Creator  of  all  creatures, 
and  the  Father  spake  aloud,  '  This  is  My  Beloved  Son.'     God,  &c. 

"  Thou  Who  humblest  Thyself  through  Thy  love,  and  wert  baptized  by  the  hands  of 
Thy  servant,  and  redeemedst  our  race  from  the  slavery  of  sin.     God,  «&c. 

"  0  Church,  sing  glory  this  day  to  the  Son  of  the  Kings,  Who  went  down  and  was 
baptized  of  John  in  Jordan.     God,  &c." 


231 

lb.  i.  264. 

Part  of  Hymn. 

"  The  Church  saw  Christ  in  the  river  Jordan,  and  fell  down  and  worshipped  Him, 
and  said  unto  Him,  '  Blessed  be  He  Who  sent  Thee,  Heavenly  Bridegroom,  Who 
hast  clothed  us  with  the  robe  of  glory,  which  the  Spirit  wove  in  Baptism.'  " 

lb.  i.  265. 
Psalm. 

"  Glory  to  Him  Who  liveth,  M''ho  was  baptized  in  Jordan,  and  clothed  u»  with  His 
glory  and  sanctified  us  with  His  Baptism. 

"  The  voice  of  the  Lord,  Who  was  baptized  in  Jordan  ;  the  Lord  is  on  many  waters, 
Who  sanctified  us  by  His  Baptism. 

"  Blessed  be  He,  who  gave  us  waters  for  atonement,  through  Baptism,  sanctifying  the 
Jjenitenl." 

•Hymn. 
Antioch  and  Jerus.  ii.  215. 

"  Good  was  our  Saviour's  word  which  He  spake  to  John,  '  Place  thy  right  hand  on 
My  head  and  baptize  Me.'  John  feared  and  shrunk  back,  seeing  the  river  burning  with 
a  flame  of  fire  abiding  in  it,  and  held  back  his  hand  trembling,  and  cried  aloud,  '  I  have 
need,  0  Lord,  to  be  baptized  of  Thee  ;'  and  He  said  to  him,  'Suffer  now,  and  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness.' Come,  place  thy  hand,  and  I  am  baptized.  And  with  the  voice  of  the 
Father  from  above,  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  from  on  high,  Halleluia,  and  rested  on 
His  head. 

"  Good  was  the  word  of  John  which  he  spake  to  Christ,  '  I  fear.  Lord,  to  approach  to 
Thee.  I  am  chaff,  1  dare  not  hold  flame  in  my  hands.  If  I  approach,  Lord,  I  burn.  Lo! 
the  waters  are  still  and  hushed.'  'Place  thy  hand  upon  My  head  and  be  still,'  Halleluia, 
'  and  I  am  baptized.'  " 

Jerus.  ii.  244,  5. 

"  The  watchers  above  feared  and  were  amazed,  what  time  the  Lord  aproached  to  be 
baptized  of  His  servant.     God  have  mercy  upon  us. 

"  The  servant  said  to  his  Lord  ;  1  have  need,  O  our  Sariour,  to  be  baptized  of  Thee, 
for  Thou  art  He  who  atonest  for  sinners.     God,  &c. 

"  The  Lord  said  to  His  servant,  Suffer  now,  0  John,  for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil 
all  righteousness.     God,  &c. 

"  The  Creator  of  all  creatures  was  baptized,  and  ascended  out  of  the  waters,  and  the 
Father  spake,  This  is  My  Son,  This  is  My  Beloved.     God,  &c. 

"  The  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove,  flew,  lighted  upon  His  head,  and  the 
crowds  knew  the  Only-begotten,  Whose  Son  He  was.     God,  &c. 

"  Blessed  be  He,  Who  for  His  love  humbled  Himself,  and  was  baptized  by  the  hands 
of  His  servant,  and  redeemed  our  race,  and  took  it  up  with  Himself  lo  heaven.  God,  &c. 

"  The  highest  heavens  gave  a  sound,  when  our  Lord  was  baptized,  and  the  Seraphim 
flapped  their  wings.     God,  &c. 

"  Who  would  not  be  amazed,  seeing  vile  dust  touch  fire,  and  baptize  It  in  the  waters 
of  the  stream  1     God,  &c. 

"  Glory  to  Thee,  our  Lord,  Who  wert  baptized,  and  by  Thy  Baptism  redeemedst  the 
Church,  and  her  sons,  and  freedst  it  from  error.     God,  &c." 

Jerusalem,  ii.  247. 

''  Relate  to  us,  O  John,  that  awful  sight,  which  thou  sawest  over  the  waters  of  Jor- 
dan." "I  saw  the  Holy  Spirit  standing  above  His  head,  and  the  Father  proclaiming, 
'  This  is  My  Son,'  Halleluia."  Blessed  be  He,  who  consecrated  expiating  Baptism  for 
the  sons  of  men  ! 

"  The  awful  hosts  of  the  seraphim,  who  cry  Holy  to  Thy  Godhead,  wondered  at  Thy 


232 

Baptism,  Lord  of  all,  Who  for  Thy  lovo  humblest  Thyself  to  Baptism,  and  sanctifiedst 
water  to  the  remission  of  debis,  Halleluia.  Glory  to  Thee,  and  to  Him  who  sent  Thee, 
Jesus,  Saviour  of  the  world  ! 

"The  lofty  watchers  called  John  blessed,  Who  so  sufficed  [to  this  office]  For  the 
awful  lightning  was  baptized  by  him.  and  he  put  his  hand  upon  the  flame,  and  feared  not 
Its  might.  Glory  be  to  the  Might  Which  strengthened  Him  !  Halleluia.  Blessed  be 
He  Who  sanctified  us  by  His  Baptism,  Jesus,  Saviour  of  the  world  ! 

"  Blessed  be  He,  Who  bowed  His  Majesty,  and  was  baptized  by  the  hands  of  His  ser- 
vant, and  typified  to  us  in  His  Baptism  the  mystery  of  His  Death  and  Resurrection,  and 
made  us  meet  for  Baptism,  and  to  be  sons  of  the  Father  I  Halleluia.  Blessed  be  He 
Who  cleansed  hs  by  His  Baptism,  Jesus,  Saviour  of  the  world  !" 

ii.  256. 

"  The  voice  of  the  Lord  on  the  waters,  Halleluia.  Our  Lord  approached  to  John  to 
be  baptized  of  him,  and  sanctify  Baptism  for  repentant  sinners.  John  saw  Him,  and 
thus  spake,  '  I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee,  and  Thou  the  great  High  Priest,  how 
comest  Thou  to  Baptism  ?'  And  He  said,  '  suffer  now,  that  righteousness  may  be  ful- 
filled.' Halleluia,  Sanctify  the  baptized. 

"  Thou  gavest  gifts  to  men,  Halleluia.  The  Son  of  God  was  washed,  and  ascended 
from  the  waters,  and  the  heavens  and  heaven  of  heavens  opened  to  honor  Him.  The 
Father  spake  aloud,  This  is  My  Beloved  Son,  and  the  Spirit  descended,  and  abode  up- 
on His  head  ;  and  the  holy  angels,  clothed  in  light,  cried  aloud.  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  art 
Thou  Lord,  receive  our  supplication. 

"  The  holy  Church  was  invited  by  John,  and  adorned  with  repentance,  and  stood  by 
Jordan.  She  heard  the  Father  proclaim,  '  This  is  My  Son,'  and  she  saw  the  Son  Bap- 
tized by  His  servant,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove  rest  upon  His  head, 
and  she  believed  in  the  Triune  mystery,  whereby  the  world  stands.  Halleluia,  forgive 
us  our  trespasses." 

Apostolic  by  Severus,  ri.  263,  5. 

"He,  who  by  His  Baptism,  sanctified  to  us  Baptism,  which  cleanseth  us  from  defile- 
ment of  sins.      God  have  mercv  upon  us. 

"  By  Thy  holy  Baptism,  by  Thy  descent  into  the  waters  fhou  turnedst  the  people  from 
the  eiror  of  idols.     God,  &c. 

"  The  Father  above  spake  aloud,  and  John  on  the  earth  proclaims,  'This  is  the  Lamb, 
this  is  the  living  Son  of  God.'     God,  &c. 

"Thou,  Who  in  the  river  Jordan  wert  baptized  by  John,  wash  us  from  the  filth  of  our 
sins.     God,&c. 

"To  Thee,  Lord,  the  heavens  were  opened,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  likeness  of  s 
dove,  flew,  lighted,  dwelt,  abode  on  Thy  head.     God,  &c. 

"  Thou  art  Christ  our  Lord,  Who  in  the  form  of  one  in  need,  wert  baptized  for  us. 
Free  us.  Lord,  from  the  error  of  idols.     God,  &c. 

"  Adam,  who  was  corrupted.  He  formed  anew  in  the  streams  of  Jordan.  (Broken  was 
the  head  of  the  cunning  dragon,  who  lay  wait  in  the  waters.)  He,  Who  took  flesh  of  the 
virgin  ;  for  glorious  is  He." 

ii.  269—71. 

"  I  heard  the  voice  of  John,  saying  to  the  Jordan,  purify  thyself,  and  wash  away  the 
defilement  in  thee,  for  the  Lord  of  earth  and  heaven  cometh  to  be  baptized,  Halleluia, 
and  to  sanctify  all. 

"  The  Church  laid  hold  on  John  amid  the  crowds,  and  said  to  him,  '  Thou  art  the 
Bridegroom.'  And  he  said  to  her,  '  After  me  cometh  He,  and  before  me  is  He,  and  I 
prepare  the  way  before  Him. 

"  Lamb  of  God,  who  earnest  to  John,  and  sanctifiedst  waters  by  Thy  Baptism,  make 
Thy  peace  and  quiet  to  rest  upon  the  holy  Church,  and  keep  her  sons  by  Thy  Cross, 
Halleluia,  from  harm." 


233 

Water  and  Blood  from  the  Redeemer's  side. 

'  The  other  solemn  event,  the  issuing  of  water  and  blood  from  His 
sacred  side,  has  more  obscurity,  as  neither  being  explained  in  Holy- 
Scripture,  nor  being  visibly  connected  with  any  other  act.  Moderns 
have  contented  themselves  with  finding  in  it,  against  the  unbeliever, 
a  proof  of  His  actual  death.  This  is  very  doubtful.*  The  ancients 
alleged  it  as  a  proof  of  the  reality  of  His  human  flesh,  against  the 
unbehevers,  who  denied  the  truth  of  His  Incarnation.!  This  is  in- 
deed proved  by  the  issuing  of  the  Blood,  but  does  not  account  for 
the  mention  of  the  water,|  upon  which  the  beloved  disciple  dwells, 
with  equal  solemnity  in  his  threefold  affirmation  of  its  truth,  and  to 
which  he  recurs  in  his  first  epistle.  The  place  also  which  it  occu- 
pies, at  the  awful  moment,  when  man's  redemption  was  just  accom- 
plished, the  very  fact  that  water  as  well  as  Blood  did  issue  from 
His  sacred  side,  (which  was  probably  something  preternatural, §) 
and  the  solemnity  of  Scripture  in  speaking  of  it,  seem  to  claim  fur- 
ther meaning  for  it ;  and  imply  that  there  was  a  treasure  laid  up  for 
the  affections  of  the  Church  to  dwell  upon,  not  simply  an  evidence 
against  a  short-lived  race  of  heretics. ||  One  should  think  that  what 
then  took  place  must  be  of  perpetual  importance,  a  bequest  to  the 
Church  during  her  whole  existence.  And  herein  the  Ancient 
Church  was  agreed,  however,  in  the  absence  of  any  certain  com- 
mnet,  there  may  have  been  variations  as  to  the  details.     Nor  again 

*  See  Dr.  Burton,  Bampton  Lectures,  Lect.  6.  p.  172,  and  note  70  and  71, 
and  Ritter  de  aqua  ex  Christi  Latere  profluente.  Thes.  Theol.  Phil,  in  Cri- 
tici  S. 

t  Iren.  3.  2.  2.  p.  219.  4.  33.  (al.  37.)  2.  p.  371.  Novatian.  c.  10.  Orig.  in  Ep. 
ad  Gal.  T.  iv.  p.  691.  Athanas.  c.  Apoll.  1.  18.  p.  937.  ap.  Waterland's  Im- 
portance of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Works,  5.  p.  191,  or  Dr.  Burton, 
1.  c.  p.  471.  Leo  Ep.  quoted  by  Ritter,  5  56.  Testim.  de  Adv.  dom.  ap.  Greg. 
Nyss.  T.  2.  p.  161. 

X  Accordingly  Dr.  Burton,  who  supposes  this  to  be  the  sole  object  of  the 
narrative,  omits,  in  his  application,  all  notice  of  it.  lb.  p.  173. 

^  Such  was  the  opinion  of  Hippolytus  de  2.  latronibus,  vol.  i.  p.  181.  Orig. 
c.  Gels.  ii.  36.  p.  416.  Auct.  de  dupl.  Martyr,  ap.  Cypr.  Op.  p.  cclvii.  quoted 
by  Dr.  Burton,!,  c.  note  70,  p,  469,  70.  add  also  Ambrose,  L.  x.  in  Luc.  5  135. 
quoted  by  Quenstedt  de  vuln.  Christi,  ib.  iv.  1 ;  see  below.  Prudentius  ap. 
Basnage,  Euthymius,  and  Theophylact,  ad  loc.  Photii  Amphiloch.  ad  calc. 
Wolf.  Curae  ad  Epp.  Cath.  Auct.  row  Xoiordf  Triaxf^n  ap.  Greg.  Naz.  Elias  Cre- 
tens.  in  Comm.  Orat.  Naz.  de  Sp.  S.  quoted  by  Ritter.  The  first  who  ques- 
tioned the  received  belief  appears  here  again  to  have  been  Calvin,  see  Ritter, 
$  30.  Quenstedt,  iv.  1.  The  Lutherans  retained  the  belief  of  the  ancient 
Church.  Ib.  and  some  even  of  the  Reformed,  as  Basnage,  Annal.  A.  D.  33. 
5  126. 

II  S.  Chrys.  ad  loc,  I  observe,  so  unites  these  objects.  "  The  Evangelist, 
closing  the  mouths  oflieretics,  and  announcing  beforehand  the  future  mysteries, 
and  contemplating  the  treasure  laid  up  therein,  relates  minutely  what  took 
place.". 


234 

is  it  necessary  that  this  mystery  should  have  one  meaning  only  ; 
nay,  it  is  more  probable  that  it  should  have  many  ;*  and  meanings, 

*  Thus  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  having  given  several  meanings,  Lect.  xiii.  21. 
adds,  5  22.  "  VVhoever  will  enquire,  will  find  other  reasons  also."  Moderns, 
omitting  to  notice  this,  have  much  confused  the  interpretations  of  the  Fathers. 
Thus  even  Card.  Bellarmine,  in  order  to  elude  the  argument  hence  drawn,  for 
the  superiority  of  the  two  sacraments,  opposes  to  this,  which  he  admits  to  be 
the  "  exposition  of  almost  all  the  Greeks,"  other  explanations,  which  he  thinks 
to  be  at  variance  with  it,  as  that  found  in  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  Lect.  iii.  10.  and  S. 
Jerome,  Ep.  69-  ad  Ocean.  5  6.  T.  i.  p.  418.  of  the  two  baptisms,  one  in  blood, 
i.  e.  martyrdom,  the  other  in  water  ;  as  also  that  in  Ambrose,  Leo,  Augustine, 
and  Bede,  which  regards  the  blood  as  a  symbol  of  the  Redemption.  Yet  these, 
so  far  from  being  at  variance,  are  frequently  found  in  the  same  writer.  Thus 
Turtullian,  who  in  his  de  Pudicit.  c.  22.  p.  575.  gives  the  exposition  of  the  two 
baptisms,  in  the  de  Baptism.  16.  p.  230.  blends  all  three.  These  two  baptisms 
He  put  forth  from  the  wound  of  His  pierced  side,  in  order  that  they  who  be- 
lieved in  His  blood  should  be  washed  with  water  ;  and  that  they  who  were 
washed  with  water,  should  also  drink  His  blood."  And  in  this  he  is  partly 
followed  by  the  author  of  the  de  rebaptismate  ap.  Cypr.  0pp.  p.  364.  who 
chiefly  dwelling  on  the  two  baptisms,  (as  being  severally  efficacious)  uses  the 
words,  "  that  whoso  believing  should  drink  of  both  streams,  should  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit,"  which  seems  to  include  both  Sacraments.  And  Euthy- 
mius,  ad  loc.  expressly  gives  both  these  explanations.  In  like  way,  S.  Am- 
brose, in  the  place  alleged  by  Bellarmine,  explains  indeed  the  "  Blood"  of  the 
price  of  our  redemption,  but  blends  with  it  with  the  allusion  to  the  Holy  Eucha- 
rist (L.  X.  in  Luc.  5 135  )  "  For  water  and  blood  issued  ;  the  one  to  cleanse,  the 
other  to  redeem.  Drink  we  then  our  ransom,  that  by  drinking  we  may  be  re- 
deemed ;"  for  so  speaks  S.  Augustine  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  '  I  eat,  drink, 
dispense  my  ransom"  (Conf.  x.  fin.)  calling  it  also  "the  sacrament  of  our  ran- 
som." (lb.  ix.  ult.)  The  word  is  the  same  which  he  uses  on  this  very  subject. 
Serm.  v.  de  lucta  Jacob,  T.  5.  p.  30.  "  There  gushed  forth  blood  and  water. 
Behold  thy  ransom  (pretium.)  For  what  gushed  from  the  side  but  the  sacra- 
ment, which  the  faithful  receive  V  (In  the  sequel  of  the  passage  he  speaks 
also  of  Baptism.)  The  reception  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  the  communication 
of  our  Redemption.  So  then  he  also  refers,  and  that  chiefly  to  the  two  sacra- 
ments. This  language  of  St.  Ambrose  may  show  that  the  de  Pass,  et  Cruce 
Dom.  5  25.  ap.  Athanas.  T.  ii.  p.  101.  "redemption  by  His  blood,  and  purifi- 
cation by  the  water,"  refers  equally  to  the  two  sacraments.  So  again  they 
are  alluded  to  in  the  dupl.  Mart.  I.e.,  water  being  said  to  be  poured  forth, 
"  that  we  might  be  washed  ;"  the  blood,  "  that  we  might  be  strengthened  ;" 
the  "  strengthening"  plainly  applying  to  the  Holy  Eucharist.  St.  Augustine 
again  in  the  place  alleged  by  Bellarmine,  exactly  agrees  with  St.  Ambrose, 
adding  only  the  reference  to  the  mingling  of  the  water  with  the  wine  in  the 
Holy  Eucharist.  A  door  of  life  was  then,  in  a  manner,  opened,  whence  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church  flowed,  without  which  is  no  entrance  to  the  life, 
which  is  the  true  life.  That  blood  was  shed  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;  that 
water  tempers  the  cup  of  salvation  ;  it  supplies  both  the  laver  and  the  cup." 
— Tract,  ex.  in  Joh.  J  2.  Elsewhere  he  speaks  only  of  "  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church  flowing  from  His  pierced  side." — lb.  Tract,  ix.  J  10.  xv.  5  8.  de  Civ. 
Dei,  XV.  26.  xxii.  17.  c.  Faust,  xii.  39.  and  of  Baptism  only,  c.  Faust,  xii.  16. 
against  the  Manichees  who  derided  it ;  as  on  the  other  hand,  (an  authority 
which  Romanists  will  admit,)  the  Friday  prayer  in  the  Prneparatio  ad  missam. 
at  the  end  of  the  Breviary,  and  the  last  collect  but  one  after  the  communion, 
give  the  application  to  the  other  Sacrament  only  ;  and  so  indeed  St.  Augus- 


235 

apparently  different,  meet  again  in  one.  Ami3  this  partial  variation 
also,  it  is  the  more  remarkable,  that  the  reference  to  Baptism,  pre- 

tine  himself,  c  Faust,  xii.  21.  Bede  ad  loc.  is  but  an  extract  from  St.  Augus- 
tine, whom  he  probably  also  follows  in  1  Joh.  v.  6.  where  he  combines  the 
doctrine  of  the  Passion  with  the  two  sacraments.  S.  Leo  also,  in  his  epistle  to 
Flavianus  against  Eutyches  (Ep.  28.  al.  24.)  explains  it  of  the  two  sacraments, 
"  let  him  consider  what  Nature  it  was,  which,  transfixed  with  nails,  hung  upon 
the  Cross,  and  when  the  side  of  the  Crucified  was  opened  by  the  soldier's 
lance,  let  him  understand  whence  flowed  the  blood  and  water,  that  the  Church 
of  God  might  be  refreshed  with  the  laver  and  the  cup."  Yet  a  few  lines  after 
in  applying  1  Joh.  v.  7.  he  speaks  in  the  same  way  as  S.  Ambrose  of  the  Spirit 
of  sanctification,  and  the  blood  of  redemption,  and  the  water  of  Baptism ;" 
and  combines  both  with  the  proof  of  His  real  humanity,  "  which  three  are  one, 
and  remain  inseparable,  and  no  one  of  them  is  severed  from  their  conjunction  ; 
since  the  Catholic  Church  lives  and  grows  upon  this  faith,  that  neither  should 
His  manhood  be  believed  apart  from  the  true  Godhead,  nor  the  Godhead  apart 
from  the  true  manhood."  In  another  epistle  (16.  c  6.)  [Ep.  4.  ap.  Bellarm.] 
where  he  had  occasion  only  to  speak  of  Baptism,  he  says,  "  He  then  conse- 
crated the  power  of  regeneration,  when  there  flowed  from  His  side  the  blood 
of  redemption  and  the  water  of  Baptism,"  without  indicating  whether  he  al- 
luded to  Baptism  only,  as  applying  the  virtue  of  that  blood,  or  to  both  sacra- 
ments. In  like  way  our  own  liturgy,  together  with  that  of  Gelasius  (Ass.  ii. 
4.,)  Gregory  and  the  modern  Roman  (ib.  33.)  rehearses  the  fact,  without  de- 
termining what  the  application  of  the  blood  is,  "  Whose  most  dearly  beloved 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  did  shed  out  of  His  most 
precious  side  both  water  and  blood  ;"  and  in  the  words  "  for  the  forgiveness, 
&c."  has  the  same  allusion  to  the  Redemption  as  S.  Ambrose,  S.  Augustine, 
and  S.  Leo.  And  so  again  S.  Pauhnus  of  Nola  (Ep.  42.  ad  Florentium,  5  4.) 
"  that  Rock,  which,  the  side  being  pierced  by  the  lance,  streamed  with  water 
and  blood,^  to  pour  forth  to  us  alike  the  health-giving  sacraments,  the  water 
of  forgiveness,  and  the  blood  of  the  sacrament.  Who,  the  Same,  is  the  foun- 
tain of  our  salvation,  and  our  Ransom."  The  two  sacraments  alone  are  like- 
wise named  by  the  authors  of  the  L.  2.  de  Symbolo,  c.  6.  and  the  de  Cataclys- 
mo,  c.  4.  ap.  Aug.  0pp.  T.  6.  by  St.  Chrysostome,  ad  loc;  by  St.  Cyril  of 
Alexandria,  ad  loc. ;  probably  Apollinarius  ad  loc.  ap.  Corderii  Caten. ;  the 
author  of  Testim.  de  adv.  Dom.  ap.  Greg.  Nyss. ;  Joh.  Damascen.  (as  a  col- 
lector of  older  opinions)  de  fid.  Orthod.  L.  iv.  c.  9.  Theophylact  ad  loc. 
follows  St.  Chrysostome,  but  combines  St.  Augustine's  allusion  to  the  ming- 
ling of  the  water  with  the  wine  in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  uses  it  as  an  argu- 
ment against  the  Armenians,  who  had  not  that  rite.  He  also  with  St.  Leo 
regards  the  blood  as  the  symbol  of  the  manhood,  the  water  of  the  Godhead. 
It  might  then  as  well  be  argued  that  they  who  (as  Ambrose,  below,  and  Greg- 
ory xiii.  ap.  Ritter,  5  41.)  apply  this  act  to  the  mingling  of  water  with  the  wine, 
mean,  against  all  antiquity,  to  exclude  the  allusion  to  Baptism,  as  that  they 
who  happen  to  mention  the  two  baptisms  only  of  water  and  martyrdom  (as  St. 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem  in  one  place,  iii.  10.  St.  Jerome,  Photius  Aniphiloch.  1.  c.) 
exclude  the  reference  to  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Some  verses  ascribed  to  Pru- 
dentius  ap.  Ritter,  5  28.  contain  only  an  illusion  to  Baptism,  to  which  he  again 
refers.  Dipt.  165,  6.  "  the  blood  is  victory  ;  water  the  bath."  And  S.  Am- 
brose, in  another  place,  directly  treating  on  Baptism,  mentions  this  only,  (de 
Myst.  5  20.)  "Thou  hast  read  that  the  three  witnesses  in  Baptism  are  one, 
water,  blood,  and  the  Spirit,  whereof  if  one  be  withdrawn,  the  sacrament  of 
Baptism  ceases.  For  what  is  water  without  the  Cross  of  Christ  1  A  common 
element  without  any  sacramental  efl&cacy.      Nor  again  does  the  mystery  of 


236 

served  in  our  liturgy,  is  found  almost  throughout,  the  difference  re- 
lating mostly  to  the  "  Blood,"  whether  It  refer  to  the  other  Sacra- 
ment, or  to  the  Baptism  of  martyrdom,  as  being  a  Baptism  in  their 
own  blood,  sanctified  by  His.     The  reference  to  the  Sacraments  is 

regeneration  take  place  without  water  ;  for  '  unless  a  man  be  born  of  water 
and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God'  For  the  catechumen 
also  believes  in  the  Cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  wherewith  also  he  is  marked  ; 
but  unless  he  be  '  baptized  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy- 
Spirit,'  he  cannot  receive  remission  of  sins,  nor  obtain  the  gift  of  spiritual 
grace."  In  another,  (de  Sacr.  v.  1.  fin.)  he  also  applies  it  to  the  mingling  of 
the  water  and  wine  in  the  Cup.  He  there  adds,  "  Water  to  cleanse,  Blood 
to  redeem,"  referring  at  once  to  the  Passion  ;  to  the  sacraments  as  its  applica- 
tion ;  and  the  symbolical  rite  at  the  Holy  Eucharist.  He  proceeds  to  speak 
of  the  Redemption  :  "  Why  from  the  side  ?  because  whence  was  the  sin, 
thence  the  grace  ;  sin  through  the  woman,  grace  through  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."     So  little  did  he  esteem  one  meaning  to  exclude  another. 

The  sacred  act  is  referred  to  in  the  Maronite  liturgy  (Ass.  ii-  341.)  as  in  our 
own,  in  the  consecration  of  the  font :  "Let  the  Holy  Spirit  sanctify,  bless,  and 
make  them  [the  waters]  like  to  those  which  flowed  from  the  side  of  the  Only- 
Begotten  on  the  cross." 

This  complete  consent  of  antiquity,  that  the  "water"  was  connected  with 
our  Baptism,  makes  it  probable  that  it  is  also  alluded  to  in  a  passage  of  S. 
Apollinaris  Hierop.,  where  he  speaks  of  His  "  pouring  forth  from  His  side 
the  two  instruments  of  cleansing  (Kaedpcna)  Blood  and  water,"  although  his  ad- 
ditional explanation  "  Word  and  Spirit"  is,  from  its  conciseness,  obscure. 
(See  Routh's  Opusc  T.  4.  p.  151.  and  note.)  The  allusion  to  the  sacraments 
is  doubtless  intended  by  S.  Hippolytus,  where  he  says,  de  2.  latronibus,  vol.  i. 
p.  281.  "  Both  did  the  body  of  the  Lord  yield  to  the  world,  the  holy  Blood 
and  the  holy  water.  For  His  Body  being  dead  after  the  manner  of  men.  had 
in  It  a  great  Power  of  Life.  For  what  are  not  poured  forth  from  dead  bodies, 
these  were  poured  forth  from  His,  both  water  and  Blood,  that  we  might  know 
how  availing  was  the  Power  indwelling  in  His  Body,  to  life,  in  that  death  was 
not  to  It  the  same  as  to  the  rest,  but  It  could  yet  pour  forth  to  us  the  laver  of 
life."  S.  Epiphanius  refers  at  least  to  Baptism  by  His  expression,  Hser.  46. 
fin.  "to  the  water  poured  forth  to  signify  the  cleansing  of  the  filth  of  our  sins," 
whether  or  no  he  refer  to  the  other  sacrament,  as  the  means  of  restoring  the 
soul  upon  repentance,  in  His  words,  "  to  show  to  us  the  sprinkling  of  His 
Blood,  to  the  cleansing  of  our  defilement  and  of  the  repentant  soul."  S.  Clem- 
ent of  Alexandria  refers  to  Baptism,  "the  Spirit  which  is  Life,  and  water, 
which  is  regeneration  and  faith,"  although  his  other  explanation,  "  Blood 
which  is  knowledge,"  seems  to  differ  from  any  elsewhere  given.  He  adds, 
however,  "  For  in  the  Saviour  are  those  saving  powers,  and  life  itself  is  in 
His  Son ;"  thus  bringing  their  efficacy  to  the  Person  of  our  Lord,  (Adumbra- 
tiones  ad  loc  T.  2.  p.  1011.  ed.  Potter.)  St.  Chrysostome,  who  ad  loc.  gives 
his  own  meaning  fully,  says  in  Ep-  ad  Eph.  c.  5.  Hom.  20.  5  3.  fin.  "  from  the 
side  of  Christ  there  gushed  forth  life."  He  had  shortly  before  spoken  of  our 
birth  in  Baptism. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  again  observed,  how  much  this  apparent  variation 
with  respect  to  the  meaning  of  the  Blood  illustrates  the  uniform  consent  of  all 
Antiquity  in  interpreting  the  "  water"  of  Baptism.  Even  among  the  Reform- 
ed, Beza  and  Calvin  still  recognize,  in  a  way,  the  reference  to  the  two  sacra- 
ments (adopting  S.  Augustine's  words  ;)  but  only  to  lead  people  away  from 
the  sacraments  themselves,  as  they  think,  to  their  Author.    Of  the  Romanists, 


1537 

preserved  either  way ;  as  again,  if  "  the  Blood"  were  the  actual 
embodying  and  visible  representation  of  the  truth,  that  "  by  His 
Blood  we  have  redemption,  even  the  remission  of  sins,"  the  water 
denoted  Baptism,  as  the  means,  whereby  His  Blood  is  applied  to 
the  cleansing  and  sanctifying  of  our  souls.  There  is  no  reason  why 
these  should  not  be  each  contained  in  that  mysterious  event,  each 
express  a  portion  of  that  truth  which  it  contained.  Gushing  out  im- 
mediately upon  the  completion  of  our  Redemption,  they  seem  to 
speak  that  by  water  and  blood  is  that  Redemption  applied  to  us,  in 
all  the  ways  wherein  they  may,  in  God's  will  be  applied. 

The  distinct  mention,  however,  of  the  two  substances  poured  from 
His  side  guides  us  most  naturally  to  two  distinct  means,  whereby 
that  virtue  is  apphed ;  and  so  the  view,  most  commonly  dwelt  upon 
by  the  Ancients,  that  the  two  Christian  Sacraments  were  thereby  de- 
noted, appears  to  correspond  most  fully  with  the  sacred  act  itself. 
And  this  seems  again  to  be  borne  out  by  the  words,  which  offer 
themselves  as  an  explanation  of  it,  St.  John's  declaration  of  the 
*'  three  which  bear  witness"  to  Him,  "  the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and 
the  blood."  For,  considering  the  solemn  way  in  which  St.  John 
insists  upon  the  history  of  the  issuing  of  the  blood  and  water,  it  can 
scarcely  be  thought  that  when  he  again  insists,  doctrinally,  in  the 
same  solemn  way,  on  the  "  water  and  blood"  as  witnesses  to  Him, 
he  is  not  bearing  in  mind  that  same  sight,  which  was  impressed  so 
deeply  upon  his  spirit.  The  words,  "  this  is  He  which  cometh*  by 
water  and  blood,  not  by  water  only,  but  by  water  and  blood,  and  the 
Spirit  is  it  which  beareth  witness,  because  the  Spirit  is  truth  ;  there 
are  three  which  bear  witness — the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the 
blood, "t  seem  to  contain  at  once  an  allusion  to  that  sight,  and  to  be 
an  explanation  of  the  main  truth  which  it  contained.  There  are 
these  two  witnesses,  and  a  third,  the  Holy  Spirit,  cooperating  with 
them  ;  they  are  witnesses  which  continue  to  bear  witness  ;  which 
He  has  left  to  bear  witness  ;  (St.  John  says  not,  "which  bore  wit- 
ness," but  which  "bear  witness,"  "'  faprvpoUvTcs ;)  which  bear  witness 
now,  continually,  and  which  shall  continue  to  the  end  to  bear  an  ever 
present  witness  ;  they  are  witnesses  to  Him,  "whereby  He  cometh," 
which  testify  to  His  Presence,  and  through  which  He  is  present. 
But  the  act  upon  the  Cross  is  past ;  the  actual  shedding  of  the  water 
and  the  blood  took  place,  and  is  not ;  the  Cross  Itself,  and  Passion, 

Jansen,  in  Cone.  c.  143.  Maldonat.  in  Matt.  27.  Alph.  Salmeron,  T.  10.  tr.  48. 
(quoted  by  Ritter,  1.  c.)  retain  the  old  doctrine,  though  Jansen.  and  Maldonat. 
insert  the  words,  "  the  two  chief  sacraments,"  no  where  used  in  antiquity. 

*  0  imiv.    For  the  past,  "  who  came,"  St.  John  uses  tX/jXvJajf ,  i  Ep.  iv.  2,  3. 

f  The  omission  of  ver  7.  is  not  meant  to  express  any  opinion  as  to  its 
genuineness  ;  those  verses  only  are  taken  which  bear  upon  the  immediate  ar- 
gument. 


233 

the  Precious  Death,  are  borne  witness  to,  but  bear  not  witness  now  ; 
They  are  ever-present  with  the  Father,  to  whom  they  were  offered ; 
they  are  the  meritorious  causes  of  all  our  blessings  and  acceptable- 
ness  with  Him,  but  themselves  are  hid  from  sight ;  He  has  "  enter- 
ed within  the  veil,"  "  now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us," 
and  there  He  presenteth  "  His  own  blood  ;"  with  them  He  appear- 
eth  before  the  Father,  but  cometh  not  to  us  ;  to  us  He  cometh  in 
His  Sacraments  ;  they  are  the  visible  tokens  of  his  invisible  Pres- 
ence ;  the  means  of  our  adoption  ;*  the  pledges  of  His  love  ;"  the 
witnesses  that  He  "  is  come  in  the  flesh  ;"  the  continual  memorials 
of  His  Death  and  Resurrection  ;  the  channels  of  "  the  Life"  which 
we  have  "  in  Him  ;"t  the  foretaste  of  eternal  life  ;t  the  witness  "  in 
us"§  also,  as  the  means  of  His  indwelling  ;||  the  witness  to  us,  "  that 
we  are  very  members  incorporate  in  the  mystical  body  of  His  Son  ;Tf 
whereby  "we  have  power  and  strength  to  have  victory,**  and  to  tri- 
umph against  the  devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh ;"  the  "  New  Tes- 
tamenttt  in  His  Blood,"  which  He  has  bequeathed  to  the  Church ; 
the  witness  to  the  Church  "  that  He  will  be  with  her  always  even 
to  the  end  of  the  world."||  By  both  doth  He  come  to  us  ;  in  Baptism 
cleansing  us  with  "  water,"  not  mere  water,  but  water  purified,  and 
purifying  by  the  efficacy  of  that  Blood,  where  "  the  Spirit"  also  is 
present,  in  the  birth  of  *'  water  and  the  Spirit ;"  in  the  Holy  Eucha- 
rist giving  us  to  "  drink  of  His  Blood,"  and  "  quickening  us  by  His 
Spirit,"§^  and  "  making  us  to  drink  into  One  Spirit."|||| 

This  exposition  again  harmonizes  with  the  true  doctrine  of  the  sa- 
craments, in  that  it  separates  the  two  great  Sacraments  of  the  Gos- 
pel from  every  tiling  else  which  God  has  made  a  means  of  grace  ;ini 

*  CEcumenius  so  gives  the  connection  of  this  verse  with  the  preceding, 
"  Having  made  mention  of  the  generation  and  birth  from  God,  in  that  he  said, 
'  every  thing  born  of  God,'  since  this  is  obtained  to  us  through  Holy  Baptism, 
therefore  He  says,  '  tliis  is  He  which  cometh  by  water  and  blood,  Jesus  Christ ;' 
And  wherefore  came  He  \  regenerating  us,  and  making  us  sons  of  God.  For 
it  follows  upon  what  was  said,  that,  '  Every  thing  born  of  God  overcometh  the 
world.'  And  how  was  it  born  1  '  by  water,'  he  saith,  '  and  blood.'  For  Jesus 
Christ,  Who  cometh,  regenerates  by  water  and  blood."  The  same  passage 
occurs  in  Theophylact  in  Joh.  v.  5.  whence,  perhaps,  it  is  probable  that  both 
derived  it  from  St.  Clirysostorae. 

t  In  Joh.  V.  11.  Joh.  vi.  27.  t  lb.  vi.  54. 

^  1  Ep.  V.  10.  II  Joh.  vi.  56. 

•[[  Thanksgiving  after  Communion. 

**  Baptismal  Service,  comp.  1  John  v.  4,  5. 

ft  Luke  xxii.  20.  tj  John  vi.  53,  54,  56. 

4^  lb.  ver.  63.  Jl  1  Cor.  xii.  13. 

%^  Hence,  remarkably  enough,  Card.  iBellarmine  rejects  this  allusion  (de 
Effect.  Sacrara.  L.  2.  c.  27.)  and  argues  against  it  from  the  position  of  the 
words  "  blood  and  water,"  as  though,  had  the  two  sacraments  been  intended, 
it  sliould  have  stood  "  water  and  blood,"  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  be- 
stowed upon  us.  S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  (who  retains  the  ancient  interpretation, 
P.  3.  qu.  66.  art.  3.  ad  3.    "  From  the  side  of  Christ  flowed  water  to  cleanse, 


23«^ 

and  as  these  two  communicate  Christ  to  the  soul,  so  these  two  flow- 
ed from  His  sacred  Side  immediately  on  His  atoning  Death.  There 
is  more  affectionateness  also  surely  in  the  view,  which,  in  the  Sa- 
craments, brings  us  close  to  our  Redeemer's  Side.  "  Not  casually," 
says  St.  Chrysostome,*  "  nor  by  chance,  did  these  fountains  issue, 
but  because  on  these  two  does  the  Church  subsist.  And  this  the 
partakers  of  the  mysteries  know  ;  regenerated  by  water,  and  by 
Blood  and  flesh  nourished.  The  mysteries  take  hence  their  rise  ; 
that  when  thou  approachest  the  awful  cup,  thou  mayest  so  approach, 
as  drinking  from  that  very  Side."  "  God,"  says  St.  Cyril,t  "  made 
what  took  place  an  image  and  first-fruit  of  the  mystic  blessed  Food 
(eulogia,  the  Eucharist)  and  of  Holy  Baptism.  For  Holy  Baptism  is 
indeed  Christ's,  and  from  Christ ;  and  the  might  of  the  Holy  Eucha- 
rist had  its  source  for  us  in  His  Holy  Flesh." 

The  Flood. 

From  the  Old  Testament  two  of  the  most  striking  types  among 
those  directly  pointed  out  in  the  New,  are  partially  alluded  to  in  an 
ancient  collect  in  our  liturgy  ;  the  flood,  and  the  passage  of  the  Red 
Sea.  An  address  to  God  could  hardly  dwell  upon  all  the  points  of 
resemblance  ;  one  should  rather  look,  that  it  would  allude  to  such 
events  as  instances  of  God's  mercy,  and  plead  them  before  Him,  as 
grounds  why  He  should  bestow  on  us  the  blessing,  which  was  hinted 
at  and  laid  up  in  them.  This  is  the  character  of  our  collect : — "Al- 
mighty and  everlasting  God,  Who  of  Thy  great  mercy  didst  save 
Noah  and  his  family  in  the  ark  from  perishing  by  water,  and  also 
didst  safely  lead  the  children  of  Israel  Thy  people  through  the  Red 
Sea,  figuring  thereby  Thy  Holy  Baptism."  It  is  remarkable,  accord- 
ingly, that  of  the  history  of  the  Flood,  that  part  of  the  type  is  taken 
which  most  plainly  pictures  man's  deliverance,  their  being  saved  in  the 

blood  to  redeem,  and  so  blood  corresponds  to  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist, 
water  to  the  sacrament  of  Baptism")  has  also  a  remarkable  protest  against 
the  power  of  the  Church  to  place  any  other  sacraments  on  a  level  with  those 
two.  "  The  Apostles  and  their  successors  are  the  vicars  of  God,  as  far  as 
relates  to  the  government  of  the  Church  instituted  by  God  tlirough  faith  and 
the  sacraments  of  faith  ;  wherefore,  as  they  may  not  establish  another  Church, 
so  neither  may  they  deliver  another  faith,  nor  institute  other  sacraments ;  but 
the  Church  is  said  to  be  built  tlirough  those  sacraments,  which  flowed  from 
the  side  of  Christ."  (P.  3.  qu.  64.  art.  2.  quoted  by  Gerhard  Loci  de  circum- 
cis.  &c.  c.  4.  s.  1.  \  54.  T.  iv.  p.  399.  The  last  words  he  took  from  S.  Au- 
gustine.) Gerhard  quotes  another  passage  from  him,  connecting  the  sacra- 
ments as  the  means  of  remission  with  the  Passion  of  our  Lord,  as  did  S.  Aug. 
and  others.  "  The  virtue  which  remitteth  sins,  belongeth  in  a  special  kind  of 
way  to  the  Passion  of  the  Lord  ;  therefore,  that  the  virtue  of  the  sacraments  is 
ordained  to  take  away  sins,  is  chiefly  from  faith  in  the  Passion  of  Christ." 
*  Ad  loc.  t  L.  12.  in  Joh-  ad  loc. 


240 

ark,  whereas  that  part  which  is  apphed  in  Holy  Scripture  (probably  as 
not  being  so  obvious)  is  omitted,  that  they  were  "  saved  bv  water."* 
And  in  our  modern  habits,  probably,  for  the  most  part,  the  ark  is 
alone  thought  of  as  being  an  emblem  of  Christ's  Church  ;  the  com- 
parison of  Baptism  to  the  flood  is  tacitly  passed  over  as  a  difficulty, 
since  the  Flood  destroyed  life.  Baptism  saves  it.  The  ancients,  fol- 
lowing Holy  Scripture  more  faithfully,  and  trusting  more  to  the 
power  of  Baptism,  saw  in  the  flood  of  waters,  the  Baptism  of  the  ex- 
piated, and  cleansed,  and  restored  world  ;"t  wherein  "  with  all  the 

*  The  ancient  form  of  the  collect  differed  in  this  ;  it  %vas,  "  Who  didst  con- 
demn the  unbelieving  world  through  the  flood,  and  didst  preserve  faithful 
Noah,  the  eighth  person,  of  Thy  great  mercy,"  which,  though  independent, 
resembles  that  of  Gelasius,  "  Who,  washing  away  the  sins  of  the  world  by  wa- 
ter, didst,  in  the  very  outpourings  of  the  deluge,  stamp  a  figure  of  regenera- 
tion ;  so  that  througli  the  mystery  of  one  and  the  same  element,  there  was  both 
an  end  put  to  sins,  and  a  source  of  excellences."  (Ass.  ii.  3.  also  Gellone, 
ib.  53.  &c.)  The  mention  of  the  ark  was  first  introduced  in  Edward  VI's  first 
book,  "didst  destroy  by  floods  of  water  the  whole  world  for  sin,  except  eight 
persons,  whom  of  Thy  mercy  (the  same  time)  Thou  didst  save  in  the  ark."  It 
was  not  in  the  Cologne  formulary.  See  note  M  at  the  end ;  "  Baptismal 
Liturgies  compared." 

f  "  lUo  expiati  et  purificati  mundi  Baptismo."  S.  Cyprian  (Ep. 76.  adMag- 
num  init.)  "  instaurato  mundo."  Jerome  (L.  iii.  in  Zach.  xi.  8,  9.)  Matt.  xix. 
28.  Hence  S.  Clement  of  Rome,  says,  that  "  Noah  preached  regeneration," 
1  Ep.  \  9.  having  reference  to  this  double  meaning  of  iraXiyytvcaia ;  and  <S.  Clem- 
ent of  Alexandria  (Strom,  v.  p.  650.  ed  Potter.)  and  Origen,  c.  c.  Cels.  iv.  20.) 
refer  the  heathen  to  the  traditions  among  themselves  (in  Plato)  of  periodical 
restorations  either  through  fire  or  water.  Tertullian  also  speaks  of  the  "  Bap- 
tism of  the  world,"  and  "  the  ancient  iniquity  being  purged  away."  De  Bapt. 
c.  8.  8.  Cyprian  follows  Tertullian,  and  besides  the  passage  quoted,  speaks 
of"  that  baptism  of  the  world,  whereby  the  ancient  iniquity  was  purged  away;" 
(Ep.  74.  ad  Pompeium,  fin.  below,  note.)  Firmilian  of  those,  "  who  not  being 
in  the  ark  with  Noah,  were  not  purged  and  saved  by  water."  (ap.  Cypr.  Ep. 
75.  p.  148.  ed.  St.  Maur.)  -S^.  Chrysostome,  i^cKXiaOn  h  yn  (de  terra  mot.  et 
Laz.  vi.  7.)  "  the  world  needs  cleansing,"  {Kddapaiv,  Hom.  24-  in  Gen.  7.  5  4.) 
and  "the  flood  was  a  rest,"  (alluding  to  the  name  of  Noah)  "because  it  cut  off 
man's  wickedness."  Serm.  9.  in  Gen.  J  6.  and,  (in  contrast  with  Baptism,) 
"Then  also,  when  things  were  desperate,  they  were  remedied  and  restored; 
but  then,  through  punishment,  now,  through  grace  and  a  gift  unspeakable." 
— Horn-  xii.  in  Matt.  5  3.  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  speaks  of  "  the  cleans- 
ing in  the  time  of  Noah."  (fi  em  Nwe  Kidapcn)  Hom.  xxviii.  28.  "  Christ,"  says 
St.  Hiliary,  "washed  away  with  a  deluge  the  first  sins  of  the  world."  (in  Ps. 
63.  5  10.)  St.  Jerome,  "  the  world  sins,  and  is  not  cleansed,  but  by  a  flood  of 
waters."  Ep.  69.  ad  Ocean.  {  6.  T.  i.  p.  417.)  Eusebius  Hom.  de  mandat. 
Dom.  Opusc.  p.  252.  "  Whom  He  '  knew  not,'  He  destroyed,  that  He  might 
cleanse  the  earth."  And  p.  254.  "  God  should  be  praised,  Who  with  water 
washed  the  earth  from  the  defilements  of  its  inhabitants."  In  like  way,  a 
sermon  perhaps  of  Maximus.  Serm.  145.  in  App.  0pp.  Aug.  T.  5.  S.  Ambrose 
(de  Myst.  c.  3.  \  10.)  "  All  flesh  was  corrupted  through  its  iniquities.  '  My  Spirit,' 
saith  God,  'shall  not  abide  in  man,  for  they  are  flesh,'  whereby  God  showeth 
that  tlurough  carnal  uncleanness,  and  the  stain  of  more  grievous  sin,  spiritual 
grace  is  removed.     Whence  God,  willing  to  restore  what  was  lacking,  sent 


341 

authors  of  sins,  all  sins  also  were  abolished  ;"*  so  that  "  the  sinners 
being  destroyed,  the  family  of  the  just  might  be  delivered  by  the  del- 
uge."!    "  The  end  of  all  flesh  was  come  before"  God  ;  the  whole 
"  earth  was  corrupt;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  before  God.":j: 
It  needed  an  expiation  to  be   saved  from  destruction ;  it  needed 
cleansing,  to  endure  the  holiness  of  God's  presence  ;  it  required  to  be 
purified  from  sin,  that  "  the  Holy   Spirit"  might  again  "  abide  with 
man  ;"^  the  destruction  of  the  old  world  was  the  condition  of  its  ren- 
ovation ;  the  deluge  was  judgment  tempered  with  mercy.      This 
view  deepened  the  meaning  of  every  other  portion  of  this  mysterious 
history.     Its  great  lesson  was,   that  "  destruction  was  the  source  of 
life" — destruction  of  the  power  of  Satan,  destruction  of  evil,  of  evil 
within  or  without  us  ;  of  sin,  or  of  the  Evil  One  ;  and  so  it  prophesi- 
ed, in  the  first  instance,  of  the  "death  unto  sin,  and  the  birth  unto 
righteousness,"  which  is  wrought  by  God  in  Baptism,  the  slaying  of 
the  old  man,  and  the  life  of  the  new.     The  burial  of  the  old  world 
spake  of  our  cointerment  with  Christ ;  the  bursting  forth  of  the  new 
through  the  waters,  and  out  of  the  waters,  of  our  resurrection  with 
Him  .-ll  but  it  spake  also  of  that  second  and  final  restoration  of  things 
to  be  accomplished  through  the  last  Baptism  of  fire,  whereof  our 
Lord  speaks  under  the  same  name  with  Baptism  ; — "  the  regenera- 
tion" yet  to  come,  whereof  this  restoration  was  an  image,  when  these 
"  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall 
melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein 

the  deluge,  and  bade  just  Noah  go  up  into  the  ark."  Optatus  de  Schism.  Do- 
nat.  V.  1.  "  the  flood  was  an  image  of  Baptism,  that  the  whole  defiled  world, 
the  sinners  being  drowned,  might,  through  the  intervention  of  the  laver,  be 
cleansed  to  its  former  estate."  S.  Irenceus,  in  the  same  way  as  the  liturgies, 
unites  the  two  subjects,  destruction  and  restoration ;  (iv.  36.  4.  ed.  Mass.) 
"  in  the  times  of  Noah,  bringing  in  the  deluge,  that  he  might  extinguish  that 
most  wretched  race  of  men,  which  then  was,  who  could  no  longer  yield  fruit 
unto  God,  and  to  allay  their  sins,  but  preserve  the  ark,  a  type ;  the  Adam 
whom  He  had  formed."  And  again,  he  regards  it  as  a  type  of  the  future  de- 
struction and  restoration,  v.  29.  2,  where,  speaking  of  Antichrist,  he  says, 
"  Wherefore  in  him  will  be  concentrated  all  unrighteousness  and  all  deceit, 
that  the  whole  apostatic  spirit  flowing  together,  and  shut  up  in  him,  may  be 
cast  into  the  furnace  of  fire  ;  concentrating  in  himself  all  the  evil  which  was 
before  the  flood  ; — the  flood  came  upon  the  earth  to  efface  {c^iXsiipn')  the  sin  of 
the  earth,  on  account  of  that  wicked  generation  in  the  times  of  Noah.  He 
then,  concentrating  in  himself  all  the  idolatry  since  the  flood,  and  slaying  of 
the  prophets  and  burning  of  the  righteous ; — in  whom  are  concentrated  all  the 
apostacy,  and  unrighteousness,  and  wickedness,  and  false-prophesying,  and 
deceit  of  the  six  thousand  years  ;  for  which  things'  sake  also  shall  the  deluge 
of  fire  come  upon  them."  Origen  also  regards  the  flood  as  typical  of  that  at 
the  end  of  the  world.  Horn,  in  Gen.  2.  5  3.  and  <S.  Augustine  de  catech.  rud. 
§32. 

*  Jerome,  L.  iv.  in  Is.  54.  }  10. 

t  Aug.  de  unit.  Eccl.  {  9.  %  G^en.  vi.  12,  13. 

^  Gen.  vi.  3.  |  See  above,  p.  80.  sqq. 

8* 


242 

shall  be  burned  up,"  and  "  the  new  heavens  and  new  eai'th,  wherein 
dwelletli  righteousness"*  shall  succeed.  The  flood  was  thus  a  type 
of  a  two-fold  restoration — (1)  of  all  the  real  life  of  the  world,  in 
those  for  whose  sake  the  world  was  preserved,  those  reborn  in 
the  Church  through  Baptism.  (2)  Of  the  world  itself,  to  be  iden- 
tical with  the  Church,  when  every  thing  corrupt  sliall  be  effaced, 
and  the  Church  enter  into  His  glory.  In  the  first  "  it  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  creation  ;"t  in  the  second  its  completion.  And 
as  these  two  regenerations  are  part  of  one  and  the  same  restora- 
tion, in  the  progress  of  the  Cliurch  to  its  triumphant  state  ;  so 
the  destruction,  whether  more  or  less  complete,  is  part  of  one  and 
the  same  ;  "  the  destruction  of  all  flesh"  by  water  is  the  emblem 
of  the  washing  away  of  all  carnal  sin ;  the  destruction  of  the  evil, 
of  that  of  the  Evil  One,  whose  ministers  they  are  :  and  so  the  interpre- 
tations, that  the  flood  was  the  abolition  of  sin, J  or  the  destruction 
of  Satan, ^  are  but  parts  of  the  same  truth.  In  Baptism  our  sins 
are  washed  away,  and  Satan's  kingdom  is  so  far  destroyed. 

The  symbol  of  the  ark,  however,  has  also  its  place  ;  its  typical 
character  is  asserted  by  St.  Peter,  though  not  explained,  "  ivhf-:rein 
Noah  was  saved ;"  it  chiefly  denotes  the  Church,  upborne  by  the 
waters  of  Baptism,  wherein  sin  was  drowned  ;  by  the  same  waters, 
which  destroyed  those  who  entered  not  therein  ;  a  refuge  for  those 
who  listen  to  Him  who  is  greater  than  Noah,  "repent  and  be  bap- 
tized." Yet  neither  was  thereby  excluded  that  other  meaning,  how- 
ever unfamiliar  to  moderns,  tliat  the  wood  of  the  ark  v/as  the  symbol 
of  the  Cross,  and  so  that  Baptism  availed  through  the  Cross,  whose 
saving  merits  Baptism  applied  ;  that,    (in  ancient   language)  "  by 

,  *  2  Pet.  iii.  10—13. 

t  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  Cat.  xvii.  J  10.  Theodoret,  ad  loc.  calls  it  "  a  begin- 
ning of  new  life." 

I  "  It  is  water  then,"  says  St.  Ambrose,  1.  c.  "  wherein  flesh  is  immersed, 
"  that  all  carnal  sin  may  be  washed  away.  All  wickedness  is  buried  there." 
And  de  Sacr.  L.  ii.  c.  1.  "What  is  the  deluge  but  that  wherein  the  righteous 
is  preserved  for  a  stock  of  righteousness,  sin  dies  ■?  Therefore  the  Lord,  when 
He  saw  the  offences  of  men  multiply,  preserved  only  the  righteous  man  with 
his  offspring,  and  bade  the  waters  go  forth  above  the  mountains.  And  there- 
fore in  that  deluge  all  the  corruption  of  the  flesh  perished  ;  the  stock  and  pat- 
tern of  the  righteous  man  alone  remained.  Is  not  the  deluge  the  same  as 
Baptism,  whereby  all  sins  are  washed  away ;  the  righteous  mind  and  grace 
alone  are  brought  back  to  life  V  And  de  Off.  Min.  iii.  18.  "All  flesh  died, 
the  righteous  man  alone,  with  his  offspring,  was  preserved.  Is  not  man  con- 
sumed, '  when  that  mortal  is  swallowed  up  of  life]'  Lastly,  '  the  outward  man 
is  wasted  but  the  inward  renewed.'  And  not  in  Baptism  only,  but  in  repent- 
ance also,  is  there  'a  destruction  of  the  flesh  to  the  profiting  of  the  spirit.'  " — 
1  Cor.  V.  5. 

^  So  Theophylact  and  fficumenius,  ad  loc.  "  This  (the  water  of  Baptism) 
destroys  the  rebellious  daemons,  but  saves  those  who  enter  the  ark,  i.  e.  the 
Church."  And  St.  Jerome  above  unites  both  ;  "  with  all  the  authors  of  sins, 
the  sins." 


243 

water  and  wood,  salvation  came  to  man."*  Nay,  these  two  meanings 
were  so  blended  together,  that  "  Noah  and  his  family,  wandenng,  a 
stranger  as  it  were  in  the  evil  world,  exhibited  the  Church,  which  is 
saved  by  that  wood,  whereon  hung  the  '  Mediator  between  God  and 
man,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus.' "t  "  Noali  and  liis  were  freed  by  wa- 
ter and  wood,  as  the  family  of  Christ  by  Baptism,  dyed  with  the 
Passion  of  the  Lord."|  "  Christ,^  the  tirsl-begotten  of  all  creation, 
became  again  the  Beginning  of  another  race,  born  again  through 
Him  by  water  and  faith  and  that  wood  which  contains  the  mystery 
of  the  Cross  ;  in  like  way  as  Noah  was  saved,  borne  with  his,  upon 
the  water;"  "borne||  on  the  wood,  they  escape  the  deluge."  So, 
then,  it  is  not  as  a  mere  outward  body,  but  because  the  Church  is 
His  institution,  vipborne  by  His  Cross,  that  they  read  in  this  history 
the  further  warning,  tliat  in  the  Church  only  is  the  appointed  method 
of  salvation.  All  who  were  not  in  the  ark  perisiied,  whether  tiiey 
wilfully  would  not  enter  into  it, II  or  having  been  in  it,  were  like 
the  raven,**  tempted  back,  and  would  not  abide  in  it. 

*  Cyril,  Jer.  Lect.  xvii.  ^  10. 

t  Aug,  de  Civ.  Dei,  xv.  26.  comp.  de  catecli.  rudib.  ^  32. 

i  Aug.  c.  Faust,  xii.  14. 

I  Just.  M.  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  ^  138. 

II  Aug.  Tr.  xi.  in  Joh.  p.  378. 

•Jf  Hence  the  saying,  "if  any  be  not  in  the  ark  of  Noah,  he  shall  perish, 
when  the  deluge  prevaileth."  Jerome,  Ep.  15.  ad  Damas.  5  2.  Of  this  (S.  Cy» 
prian's  is  only  a  specific  application.  "  If  tlien  in  that  Baptism  of  this  expi- 
ated and  purified  world,  he  could  be  saved  by  water,  who  was  not  in  the  ark 
of  Noah,  he  also  can  receive  life  through  Baptism,  who  is  not  in  the  Church, 
to  which  alone  Baptism  was  granted."  Ep.  76.  ad  Magnum,  init.  And  again, 
on  1  Pet.  iii.  "  In  how  brief  and  spiritual  a  compendium  did  the  apostle  de- 
clare the  mystery  of  unity.  For  as  in  that  Baptism  of  the  world,  he  who  was 
not  in  the  ark  of  Noah  could  not  be  saved  by  water,  so  neither  now  doth  it 
seem  can  he  be  saved  by  Baptism,  who  is  not  baptized  in  the  Church,  which 
was  founded  in  the  unity  of  the  Lord  after  the  mystery  of  the  one  ark."  Ep. 
74.  ad  Pompeium  :  and  Firmilian,  ''As  the  apostle  Peter  laid  down,  saying, 
'in  like  way  also  shall  Baptism  save  you,'  showing  that  as  they  who  were  not 
in  the  ark  with  Noah,  were  not  only  not  cleansed  and  saved  by  water,  but 
perished  forthwith  in  that  deluge,  so  now  also  whoever  are  not  in  the  Church 
with  Christ,  shall  perish  without,  unless  they  turn  through  repentance  to  the 
one  and  saving  laver  of  the  Church."  Ep.  ap.  Cyprian.  Ep.  75.  The  max- 
im is  alike  held  by  S.  Augustine,  the  application  only  differing.  "  That  out  of 
the  ark,  all  flesh  which  the  earth  supported,  was  destroyed  by  the  deluge,  be- 
cause, out  of  the  communion  of  the  Church,  the  water  of  Baptism,  though  the 
same,  not  only  avails  not  to  salvation,  but  rather  avails  to  destruction."  c. 
Faust,  xii.  17.  and  "Placed  by  thee  out  of  the  ark,  i.  e.  out  of  the  Church,  he 
is  drowned  in  the  deluge,  not  cleansed."  c.  Advers.  leg.  et  proph.  i.  45. 
Bishop  Pearson  applies  the  type  in  the  same  way.  On  the  Creed,  Art.  The 
Holy  Catholic  Church. 

**  "  Since  the  ark  was  an  image  of  the  Church,  the  sinner  who  forsakes  the 
Church,  inasmuch  as  he  has  no  other  resting  place,  hath  Iris  image  in  him,  in 
that  having  no  other  rest  in  the  world  than  that  of  the  Church,  he  yet  prefiers 
to  linger  in  the  emptinesses  of  the  world." — S.  Hil.  in  Ps    146.512.     "The 


241 

As  the  history  thus  furnishes  a  warning  against  a  sinful  careless- 
ness and  inditference  to  God's  institution,  so  does  another  part  of 
it  against  that  self-willed  rigorousness  and  discontent  at  its  state, 
such  as  God  has  allowed  it  to  be,  mingled  of  the  evil  and  the  good, 
which  seduces  men  to  attempt  to  construct  another  Church,  or  form 
Churches  within  the  Church,  from  which  all  evil  is  to  be  excluded. 
The  admission  of  the  clean  and  unclean  into  the  saving  ark  was 
to  the  Jew  a  hidden  prophecy,  that  "  to  the  Gentiles  also  was  grant- 
ed repentance  vmto  life,"  such  as  was  authoritatively  revealed  in  the 
vision  of  St.  Peter  ;  to  the  Donatists  it  forbad  any  narrowing  of  the 
communion  of  the  Church  by  a  self-erected  standard  of  purity.  "  All 
kinds  of  animals,"  says  St.  Augustine,*  "  are  inclosed  in  the  ark,  as 
the  Church  contains  all  nations,  which  were  signified  also  in  the 
sheet  shown  to  St.  Peter.  Clean  and  unclean  animals  are  there,  as 
in  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  are  found  both  good  and  bad." — 
"  The  ark  of  Noah,"  says  St.  Jerome,!  "  was  a  type  of  the  Church, 
as  saith  the  Apostle  Peter.  As  in  that  were  all  kinds  of  animals,  so 
in  this  are  men  of  all  nations  and  characters.  As  pard  and  goats, 
wolf  and  lambs  were  there,  so  here  also  the  righteous  and  sinners, 
i.  e.  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  are  hard  by  those  of  wood  and  clay. 
The  ark  has  its  stories  ;  the  Church  has  many  mansions." 

It  could  not  be,  but  that  in  a  history  so  momentous,  other  points 
also,  though  not  touched  upon  in  Holy  Scripture,  would  also  bear  a 
hidden  meaning.  The  ancient  Church  believed  that  all  was  signifi- 
cant ?  that   it  was  full  of  mysteries,|   "  some  things  referring  to 

raven  returned  not,  either  intercepted  by  the  waters,  or  enticed  by  isome  float- 
ing corpse,  fciignifying  how  men,  defiled  by  the  uncleanness  of  desire,  and  so, 
too  intent  on  the  things  without  in  this  world,  are  either  rebaptized,  or  are 
seduced  and  held  by  those  whom,  without  the  ark,  i.  e.  out  of  the  Church, 
Baptism  slays." — Aug.  c.  Faust,  xii.  20.  S.  Hilary  has  the  same  reference  to 
the  "corpse."  1.  c.  5  11. 

*  c.  Faust,  xii.  15.  The  first  part  of  this  S.  Augustine  repeats  in  Joh.  Tr.  ix. 
11.  de  Civ.  D.  xvi.  fin.  Orig.  in  Gen.  Horn.  2.  { 5.  and  St.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  xvii. 
10. 

t  Adv.  Lucif.  }  22.  add  adv.  Jovin.  i.  17.  ii.  22.  Ep.  123.  ad  Ageruch.  }  9. 
St.  Augustine  mentions  the  like  interpretation  of  the  stories  of  the  ark,  de  Civ. 
D.  1.  c.  and  Origen,  Hom.  2.  in  Gen,  5  3.  "  The  people  saved  in  the  Church 
are  compared  with  all  those,  men  or  animals,  saved  in  the  ark.  But  because 
all  make  not  the  same  progress  in  the  faith,  nor  have  equal  merits,  therefore 
that  ark  also  hath  not  one  mansion  only  for  all,  but  there  are  lower,  second  and 
third  stories  above;  to  show,  that  although  all  in  the  Church  are  held  together 
within  one  faith,  and  are  cleansed  by  one  Baptism,  yet  all  make  not  the  same 
advances,  but  every  one  in  his  own  order." — Add  5  5. 

%  E.  g.  S.  Chrysostome  speaks  of  its  •'  mysteries."  Hom.  de  terra,  mot.  et 
Laz.  vi.  7.  and  so  S.  Ambrose  (below.)  S.  Jerome  of  its  "  sacraments,"  adv. 
Lucif.  22.  and  St.  Augustine,  c.  adv.  leg.  etproph.  i.  45.  Africanus,  "  Each  of 
these  details  signifieth  something  especial." — Chronic-  ap.  Routh,  Reliq.  S.  ii. 
129.  The  facts  there  mentioned,  werei  if  any  understand  them,  also  prophe- 
cies."—Aug.  1.  c. 


245 

Christ,  some  to  the  Church,  and  thus  the  whole  to  Christ."*  Spe- 
cially it  is  observable  how,  with  the  Scriptural  reference  to  Baptism, 
they  love  to  dwell  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ;  the  Son,  as  reveal- 
ed in  the  Cross ;  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  Him,  and 
through  Him  to  believers,  as  already  shadowed  forth  in  the  coming 
down  of  the  Dove  to  the  One  Righteous  Man.f  "  Forthwith"  [on 
the  cleansing  of  the  world  by  the  flood]  "  the  Dove  of  the  Holy  Spi- 
rit (that  foul  bird  being  first  removed)  flies  down  to  Noah,  as  to 
Christ  in  Jordan,  and  with  the  branch  of  refreshment  and  of  light 
announces  peace  to  the  world."t  "Thou  seest  the  water,"  sa  s 
St.  Ambrose,^  "  seest  the  wood,  beholdest  the  Dove,  and  doubtes 
thou  of  the  mystery  ?"  "  The  wood  is  that  whereon  the  Lord  Jesus 
was  nailed  when  He  suffered  for  us.  The  Dove  is  that  in  whose 
form  the  Holy  Spirit  descended,  who  inspiretii  thee  with  peace  ot 
soul,  tranquillity  of  mind."  "  Noah,"  says  St.  Chrysostome,||  "  was 
Christ,  the  Dove,  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  olive  branch,  the  loving 
kindness  of  God."  Tertullian  gives  the  same,  with  an  earnest  warn 
ing  against  relapse.  "  For^  as  after  the  waters  of  the'  deluge, 
whereby  the  ancient  iniquity  was  purged  away,  after  the  Baptism 
(so  to  speak)  of  the  world,  the  herald  dove,  sent  out  from  the  ark, 
and  returning  with  the  olive-branch,  announced  to  the  earth  peace 
from  the  Divine  wrath ;  by  the  same  ordinance  of  a  spiritual  wash- 
ing, does  the  dove  of  the  Holy  Spirit  fly  to  the  earth,  i.  e.  to  our 
flesh,  as  it  emergeth  from  the  laver  after  its  ancient  offences,  bearing 
the  peace  of  God,  sent  forth  from  the  heavens,  where  the  Church  is 
the  ark  portrayed.  But  the  world  again  sins,  whence  Baptism 
should  so  far  ill  correspond  with  the  deluge.  Therefore  is  it  des- 
tined to  fire,  as  also  is  that  man,  who  after  Baptism  renews  his 
sins,  so  that  this  also  is  to  be  taken  as  significant  for  our  instruction." 
And  S.  Ambrose  adds  the  like:**  "The  raven  is  the  type  of  sin, 
which  goeth  forth,  and  returneth  not,  if  thou  also  keep  thyself  after 
the  pattern  of  the  righteous  man." 

And  so,  doubtless,  our  redemption,  and  the  means  of  its  application 
to  ourselves,  are  portrayed  in  the  minuter  details  of  this  great  dispen- 
sation.    The  unity  of  the  Church  may  well  be  thought  to  be  desig- 

*  "  Quodtotum  Christiis  est." — Aug.  c.  Faust,  xii.  39. 

t  In  another  point  of  view  then  Noah  is  the  type  of  Christ,  as  St.  Aug. 
says,  "  Christ  also  was  typified  in  Noah,  and  in  that  ark  of  the  universe." — 
Tr.  ix.  in  Joh.  J  11-  so  S.  Chrys.  inf.     Orig.  Horn.  2.  in  Gen.  J  3. 

J  S.  Jerome,  Ep.  69.  ad  Ocean.  5  6.  The  "  raven"  he  regards  as  an  em- 
blem of  Satan,  as  he  says,  adv.  Lucif.  23.  ''  In  the  Baptism  of  the  Church, 
that  most  foul  bird  being  expelled,  i.  e.  the  devil,  the  dove  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
announces  peace  to  our  earth." 

^De  Myst.  c.  3.  5  10,  11. 

II  1.  c.  Greg.  Naz.  Or.  39.  5  16.  "  Of  old,  long  before,  the  dove  was  practised 
to  announce  the  close  of  the  flood."     And  others,  ap.  S.  Cyril,  xvii.  10. 

t  De  Bapt.  c.  8.  **  1.  c. 


246 

nated  by  the  anointing  of  the  ark  within  and  without,  so  that  it  was 
"  compact  together,  and  at  unity  with  itself;"  the  "fervent  charity," 
whereby  it  is  so  held,  by  the  mateiials  recorded  ;  for  *'  bitumen*  is 
the  most  burning  and  vehement  cement,  signifying  the  ardor  of  love, 
through  the  force  of  its  great  might  'enduring  all  things  to  hold'  to- 
getlier  the  spiritual  community  ;  "  for  notf  with  asphaltus  and  pitch, 
but  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  its  planks  anointed  :"  its  "  being  finish- 
ed in  one,  above,"  that  the  Church,  the  body  of  Christ,  "  gathered 
into  unity,  is  raised  on  high  and  perfected"!  i"  Him  :  the  seven  clean 
animals,  "  the  seven-fold'^  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit;"  the  enter 
ing  the  ark  on  the  seventh  day,  "  that  we  are  baptized  in  hope  of  that 
rest  yet  in  store,  which  is  signified  by  the  seventh  day  ;"||  the  resting 
of  the  ark  on  the  seventh  month,  the  type  of  that  rest  ;•[  the  return 
of  the  dove,  that  "rest  is  notprom.ised  in  the  N.  T.to  the  saints  in  this 
world  ;"**  its  not  returning  after  seven  days,  "  the**  end  of  the  world, 
when  there  shall  be  a  rest  for  the  saints,  not  now  in  the  sacrament  of 
hope,  whereby  the  Church  is  held  together  in  this  world,  so  long  as 
that  is  drunk  which  flowed  from  the  side  of  Christ,  but  in  the  very  per- 
fectness  of  eternal  salvation,  when  the  kingdom  shall  be  delivered  to 
God  and  the  Father  ;  when  in  the  clear  contemplation  of  unchangea- 
ble truth  we  shall  not  need  the  embodying  thereof  in  mysteries." — 
And  amid  this  and  other  significance  of  numbers,  it  may  the  rather  be 
supposed  that  that  of  eight,  which  St.  Peter  insists  upon,  "wherein 
few,  that  is,  eight  souls,"  had  also  reference  to  the  day  of  the  Resur- 
rection, "through  whichtt  Baptism   saves  us,"  "  because:}:!  in  Christ 

*  Aug.c.  Faust,  xii.  14.  add.  de  Unit.  Eccl.  5  9.  in  Ps.  103.  S.  3.  5  2. 

f  S.  Chrys.  Horn  1.  de  laud.  Ap.  Paul.  The  concord  is  insisted  on  also 
by  S.  Clement  of  Rome.  "The  Lord,  through  Noah,  saved  all  the  living 
creatures  who  in  concord  entered  the  ark." — Kp.  i.  59. 

I  Aug.  c.  Faust,  xii.  16.  Orig.  Hom.  2.  in  Gen.  5  5.  "  The  whole  fabric  is 
brought  together  into  one,  because  there  is  '  One  God  the  Father,  of  Whom 
are  all  things,  and  One  Lord,  and  one  Faith  of  the  Church,  one  Baptism,  one 
body,  and  one  Spirit,'  and  all  things  are  hastening  to  one  end  of  being  perfect- 
ed in  God." 

^  Aug.  c.  Faust,  xii.  5  15.  ||  lb.  5  17,  comp.  Heb.  iii.  iv. 

lib.  519-  **Ib;5  20. 

ft  1  Pet.  iii.  21. 

tX  Aug.  c  Faust,  xii.  15.  adv.  leg.  et  Proph.  add  i.  5  45.  and  de  Civ.  D.  xvi. 
26.  So  Justin  M.  "  The  number  eight  was  a  symbol  of  the  eighth  day,  where- 
on our  Christ  appeared,  having  risen  from  the  dead,  which  yet  in  dignity  ever 
was  the  first." — Dial-  c.  Tryph.  5  138.  p.  229.  The  number  eight  was  accord- 
ingly, throughout  all  Christian  antiquity,  regarded  as  symbolical  of  our  Lord's 
resurrection,  of  the  complete  remission  of  sins,  of  perfection,  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation of  eternity.  See  Coteler  on  S.  Barn.  Ep.  Patr.  Ap.  T.  i.  45 — 48. 
Clem.  Al.  Strom.  L.  6.  5  16.  p.  810.  ed.  Pott.  Origen,  Hom.  23.  in  Num.  5  10. 
11.  Jerome  L.  xii.  in  Ezek  c.  xl.  24 — 29.  Basil  in  Hexaem.  Hom.  2  fin. 
Athanas.  in  Ps.  6-  Ambros.  Ep.  44.  ad  Horontian.  5  14,  15.  ;  in  Ps.  118.  Prol.; 
Expos.  Ev.  sec.  Luc  L.  5. 5  49. L.  7. 5  6.  and  173.  Aug.  in  Ps.  6.  et  1 1.  Chrys- 
ostome  de  compunct.  ad  Stelech.  L.  2. 5  4.  Hilary  in  Ps.  118.  Prolog.  Greg. 


247 

dawned  the  hope  of  our  resurrection,  who  on  the  eighth  day,  i.e.  the 
first  after  the  seventh  of  the  sabbath,  rose  again  from  the  dead,  which 
day  was  the  third  from  the  Passion,  but  in  the  number  of  the  days,  as 
they  revolve  throughout  all  time,  is  both  the  eighth  and  the  first." 

The  more  any  one  can  realize  these  details,  the  more  He  must  ob- 
viously admire  the  unity  and  harmony  of  God's  dispensations  ;  but  let 
any  narrow  the  correspondence  as  closely  as  he  can,  yet  if  he  think 
lightly  of  Water  Baptism,  he  must  surely,  if  he  compare  his  mind 
with  that  of  St.  Peter,  find  himself  reproved,  in  that  the  Apostle  held 
the  flood,  which  covered  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  and  the  tops  of 
the  highest  mountains,  and  prevailed  upwards,  to  be  but  a  shadow 
and  type*  of  the  baptismal  stream,  which  each  of  our  little  ones  enters 
as  "  a  child  of  wrath,"  and  arises  "a  child  of  God,  a  member  of  Christ, 
an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 

Passage  of  the  Red  Sea. 

The  contrast  of  destruction  and  preservation,  which  is  contained  in 
the  type  of  the  deluge,  is  brought  out  more  prominently  in  that  of  the 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea  ;t  and  that,  both  because  the  destruction  is  in 
this  case  related  to  have  been  the  means  of  the  preservation,  and 
because  one  enemy  of  God  and  of  His  redeemed,  stands  forth  most 
conspicuously.  The  reference  of  this  type  to  Baptism  (being  so 
distinctly  asserted  by  St.  Paul|)  could  not  of  course  be  questioned 
by  any  Christian  ;  and  as  little  that  of  the  manna  to  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist ;  yet,  in  modern  days,  neither  has  the  whole  of  its  instruct- 
iveness  been  realized,  nor  the  light  thrown  upon  the  sacramental 
character  of  the  history.  Its  special  teaching,  as  dwelt  upon  by 
St.  Paul  himself,  is  this  ;  the  completeness  and  universality  of  our 
deliverance,  through  Baptism,  and  the  subsequent  peril  of  losing  its 
fruits  ;  and  that,  although  once  delivered,  we  may  yet  not  reach  the 
promised  inheritance.  The  flood  portrays  the  Church,  as  a  small 
portion  only  of  the  world  ;  "  wherein  few,  that  is,  eight  souls,  were 

Naz.  Orat.  xli.  in  Pentec.  5  2.  (quoting  elder  writers)  xliv.  in  Nov.Domin.  5  5. 
Greg.  Nyss.  de  inser.  Ps.  c.  5.  and  in  Ps.  6.  Maximus  Capp.  Theol.  Cent.  i. 
5  51.  sqq.  Hence  churches  and  fonts  were  built  octagonally,  App.  ad  Paulin. 
Op.  p.  65.  in  memory  of  the  Resurrection. 

*  "  Baptism  is  a  greater  deluge  than  that  described  by  Moses,  since  more  are 
baptized  than  were  drowned  by  the  deluge." — Luther,  Serm.de  Baptismo,  ap. 
Gerhard,  loci  de  S.  Bapt.  5  9.  "  The  water,"  says  S.  Aug-ustine,  "  prevailed 
fifteen  cubits  upwards  above  the  height  of  the  mountains,"  i.  e.  this  sacra- 
ment trancsends  all  the  wisdom  of  the  proud." — c.  Faust,  xii.  19. 

t  This  was  expressed  in  the  old  Latin  form,  which  was  followed  in  Edward 
"VTs  first  book ;  "  and  did'st  drown  in  the  Red  sea  obstinate  (wicked,  Eng.) 
king  Pharaoh  with  all  his,  and  leddest  Thy  people  through,  that  this  laver  of 
Thy  holy  Baptism  hereafter  might  be  signified." — See  Note  M. 

X  1  Cor.  X. 


248 

saved  by  water ;"  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  history  de- 
pendent on  it,  that,  even  of  the  Church,  who  had  been  so  saved 
once,  a  portion  only, — it  is  to  be  feared  (without  insisting  on  the  ac- 
tual proportions)  a  small  portion  only — should  enter  into  their  rest. 
However  this  may  be,  the  alarming  portion  of  the  history  is  that  set 
forth  by  St.  Paul.  He  had  just  inculcated  the  necessity  of  earnest- 
ness, diligence,  temperance,  self-discipline,  that  we  may  not  forfeit 
"  the  prize  of  our  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus  ;"  and  this  he  had 
exemplified  both  in  the  rules  which  men  observe  in  earthly  rewards, 
and  in  his  own  case.  Then,  lest  any  should  think  themselves  se- 
cure in  the  privileges  they  had  received,  he  shows  how  their  fathers 
had  all  received  the  corresponding  privileges,  but,  displeasing  God, 
the  most  had  perished.  Some  had  fallen  by  one  sin,  some  by  an- 
other ;  some  had  been  spared  for  a  while,  some  taken ;  some  had 
reached  almost  the  borders  of  the  promised  land,  and  then,  "  at  the 
last  hour,  had  fallen  from"*  Him  :  all  had  been  saved,  yet  at  last, 
in  despite  of  every  past  and  present  mercy,  the  past  deliverance, 
the  sea,  the  cloud,  the  manna,  the  spiritual  meat,  the  spiritual  rock, 
and  God's  long  forbearance,  the  most,  one  after  the  other,  perished. 
St.  Paul  (as  any  one  must  observe)  lays  great  stress  on  the  universali- 
ty of  these  gifts;  "«//  our  fathers  were  under  the  cloud,  and  a// pass- 
ed through  the  sea,  and  were  all  baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud 
and  in  the  sea,  and  did  oil  eat  the  same  spiritual  meat,  and  did  all 
drink  the  same  spiritual  drink, — but  with  the  most  of  them  God  was 
not  well-pleased."  It  is  a  fearful  picture,  how  all  had,  up  to  a  certain 
point,  been  brought  safe  ;  all  had  been  "  saved  from  their  enemies, 
and  from  the  hand  of  them  that  hated  them  ;"  all  had  been  placed 
safely  on  the  opposite  shore  ;  but  then  a  nev,'  scene  of  trial  began; 
and  it  is  a  heavy  sight  to  watch  how  each  different  trial  seduced 
*'  some  of  them,"t  and  "  they  were  destroyed  :"  it  is  an  earnest 
warning,  which  closes  the  list,  "  all  these  things  happened  to  them, 
as  types,  and  they  are  written  for  our  admonition."  St.  Paul,  then, 
recognizes  the  risk,  that  men,  having  received  privileges,  should 
rest  satisfied  therewith,  and  become  slothful  and  careless  ;  his  very 
object  here  is  to  meet  this  case  ;  but  how  does  he  meet  it  ?  by  de- 
nying that  they  had  received  them,  and  bidding  them  seek  to  ob- 
tain them  ?  No  !  His  argument  pre-supposes  in  the  strongest 
way  that  all  had  had  them, — but  that  this  would  not  alone  suffice  ; 
they  must  use  them,  be  watchful  in  keeping  them,  or,  like  their  fore- 
fathers, peiish.  "  ThinkJ  not,  he  says,  that  because  ye  have  believ- 
ed, this  sufficeth  to  your  salvation.  As  it  profited  them  not,  to  have 
enjoyed  gifts  so  great,  so  neither  will  it  you  to  have  obtained  Bap- 
tism, and  been  admitted  to  the  spiritual  mysteries,  unless  ye  shall 

*  Burial  Service.  t  ^er.  7,  8,  9,  10. 

%  Horn.  23.  ad  1  Cor.  10.  }  2,  3. 


249 

exhibit  a  life  worthy  of  such  grace.  Wherefore  he  introduces  men- 
tion of  the  types  of  Baptism  and  the  Mysteries.  He  who  gave 
them  these  things,  He  also  prepared  this  table  ;  and  the  same  led 
them  through  the  sea,  and  you  through  Baptism,  and  gave  them  man- 
na and  water,  thee  the  Body  and  Blood.  Such  was  His  gifts  ;  but 
did  He  spare  them,  showing  themselves  unworthy  ? — Yea,  though 
He  so  honored  them,  it  profitted  them  nothing,  but  the  most  perish- 
ed. And  yet  they  were  numberless;  but  their  number  availed  no- 
thing :  and  all  tliese  were  proofs  of  love  ;  but  neither  did  this  profit 
them,  since  they  showed  not  the  proofs  of  love.  For  since  the  many 
disbelieve  what  we  are  told  of  hell,  as  not  being  present  nor  visible, 
he  shows  from  actual  facts,  that  God  punishes  sinners,  though  He 
have  heaped  on  them  countless  benefits.  If  ye  will  not  believe  the 
things  to  come,  he  would  say,  yet  surely  ye  will  not  disbelieve  the 
past.  Consider,  then,  what  He  bestowed  upon  them.  He  freed 
them  from  Egypt  and  its  bondage,  subdued  the  sea,  from  heaven 
sent  down  manna,  from  beneath  sent  up  strange  and  marvellous 
fountains  of  water ;  He  was  with  them  every  where  doing  wonders, 
and  walling  them  in  on  all  sides;  and  yet,  since  they  yielded  nothing 
worthy  of  this  gift,  He  spared  them  not,  but  destroyed  them  all. — 
And  all  this  is  for  thee  ; — for  as  the  gifts  were  types,  so  also  are  the 
punishments  types  ;  and  as  Baptism  and  the  Table  were  foresha- 
dowed, so  also  by  what  subsequently  happened,  was  it  for  our  sakes 
proclaimed,  that  they  who  are  unworthy  of  this  gift  shall  be  punish- 
ed ;  that  we  may  by  those  examples  be  brought  a  better  mind. 
For  as  in  the  benefits,  the  types  preceded,  the  truth  followed,  so 
also  shall  it  follow  in  the  vengeance.  See  how  he  shows  that  not 
only  shall  they  be  punished,  but  even  more  than  those  former  ;  for  if 
the  one  be  the  type,  the  other  the  reality,  it  must  needs  be  that  the 
vengeance  shall  greatly  exceed,  as  well  as  the  gifts." 

The  very  object,  then,  of  the  Apostle's  warning,  and  the  mode  in 
which  he  urges  this  type,  presuppose  that  Christians  do  receive  in 
Baptism  great  and  real  gifts ;  gifts,  compared  with  which,  God's 
mightiest  workings  in  the  physical  creation,  the  "  making  the  sea  to 
stand  on  an  heap,"  as  though  it  were  solid  earth,  and  "  bringing  water 
out  of  the  flinty  rock,"  were  but  as  shadows  of  the  real  body,  images 
and  outlines  of  the  true  substance — but  that  having  received,  they 
may  forfeit  them,  so  that  it  had  been  better  had  they  never  had 
them.  So  far  then  from  arguing,  as  modern  schools  have  done,  that 
because  any  live  not  worthy  of  his  new-birth,  therefore  he  had  not 
been  so  born ;  the  Apostle  implies  most  fully  that  all  had  been  so 
born,  though  for  some  it  "had  been  better,  had  they,"  thus  also, 
"  never  been  born,"  The  type,  if  one  may  so  speak,  seems  pur- 
posely so  ordered,  as  to  convey  the  universality  of  the  gift ;  the  his- 
tory, as  well  as  the  application,  insists  upon  it.  All  their  enemies 
were  destroyed,  all  themselves  saved  ;  "  the  Egyptians  whom  ye 


250 

have  seen  to-day,  "  ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more  ;"  "  the  wa- 
ters returned  and  covered — all  the  hosts  of  Pharaoh,  that  came  into 
the  sea  after  them  :  there  remained  not  so  much  as  one  of  tliem  ;" 
"but  the  children  of  Israel  walked  upon  dry  land  in  the  midst  of  the 
sea  ;  and  the  waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their  right  hand,  and 
on  their  left"  (the  same  waters  were  their  protection  and  the  de- 
struction of  their  enemies.)  "  Thus  the  Lord  saved  Israel  that  day 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Egyptians."*  "  Hef  saved  them  from 
the  hand  of  him  that  hated  them,  and  redeemed  them  from  the  hand 
of  the  enemy  :  and  the  waters  covered  their  enemies  :  there  was  not 
one  of  them  left."     Theyt  "  all  passed  through  the  sea." 

The  correspondence  of  the  figure  and  the  reality  are  every  way 
most  complete,  and  have  ever  been  felt  so  to  be.  Delivered  from  a 
land  of  bondage  and  hard  service  in  mud  and  clay,§  under  One 
Head,  bearing  the  rod  of  God,  the  emblem  of  the  cross, H  pursued 
by  one  chief  enemy,  to  whom  they  had  been  enslaved,  and  by  his 
instruments  and  servants, TI  to  the  very  water  whereby  they  were  de- 
livered ;  then  buried,  as  it  w^ere,  in  the  tomb,  and  arising  again  ; 
and  then  their  enemies  destroyed  to  the  very  last ;  then,  entering  on 
a  new  scene  of  trial,  in  what  is  yet  a  wilderness,  though  relieved  by 
the  shadow  of  the  cloud,  and  guided  by  the  pillar  of  fire,  and  supported 
by  unearthly  food,  not  yet  arrived  at  their  rest,  yet  on  their  way  thi- 
ther, but  with  the  risk  of  falUng  short  of  it, — Israel  has  been  ever 
acknowledged  to  be  our  representative.  His  very  trials  are,  in  detail, 
a  picture  of  ours.  His  deliverance  was  real,  from  a  real  bondage;  it 
was  wrought  without  exception,  for  them  all,  from  all  their  enemies; 
why  then  doubt  that  ours  is  also  real,  although,  as  being  spiritual, 

*  Ex.  xiv.  28—30.  f  Ps-  cvi-  10,  11.  Xl  Cor.  x.  1. 

^  "  The  Apostle  so  speaking,  no  believer  can  doubt  that  the  passage  of  that 
people  through  the  Red  sea  was  a  figure  of  our  Baptism,  that  we  being  by- 
Baptism,  under  the  guidance  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  Whom  Moses  then 
was  a  figure,  freed  from  the  devil  and  his  angels,  who,  like  Pharaoh  and  the 
Egyptians,  wore  us  down,  bound  to  the  mire  of  the  flesh,  as  to  the  works  in 
brick,  we  might  "  sing  to  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  done  gloriously.'  " — Aug.  Serm. 
363.  de  cant.  Exod.  Add-  S.  Cyril,  Alex,  in  Joh.  iv.  p.  437. 

II  Justin  M.  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  \  86.  Theodoret  sums  up  concisely  :  "  '  Those 
things,'  says  the  apostle,  '  were  the  types  of  ours.'  For  the  sea  was  an  image 
of  the  laver  ;  the  cloud,  of  the  gift  of  the  Spirit ;  Moses,  of  the  Priest ;  the  rod, 
of  the  Cross  ;  Israel  passing  through,  of  the  baptized  ;  the  Egyptians  pursu- 
ing, of  the  demons  ;  Pharaoh  himself  was  an  image  of  the  devil.  For  after 
they  had  passed  through,  the  Israelites  were  freed  from  the  power  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  as  in  a  sort  of  type,  they  received  manna  also  from  heaven ; 
and  the  rock  was  after  the  pattern  of  the  side  of  the  Lord.  For,  unlooked  for, 
it  sent  forth  streams." — Ad  loc. 

T[  "  They  are  dead  to  us,  who  can  no  longer  lord  it  over  us  ;  since  those  our 
offences,  which  made  us  subject  to  him,  were,  when  we  were  set  free  by  the 
laver  of  the  holy  grace,  drowned,  as  it  were  in  the  sea,  and  destroyed." — 
Aug.  1.  c. 


251 

it  is  invisible  ?  Why  speak  of  "  outward  covenants,"  "  outward 
visible  signs,"  "  dedications  to  God,"  instead  of  benefits  imparted? 
Had  Israel's  deliverance  been  inward,  it  had  not  been  the  type,  but 
the  substance  ;  had  it  not  been  real  it  had  been  nothing  ^  it  could 
be  outward  and  yet  real,  because  bodily;  the  Christian's,  as  being 
spiritual,  is,  unless  inward,  not  real ;  i.  e.  it  is  nothing. 

The  ancient  Church,  faithful  to  Holy  Scripture,  especially  in- 
sists upon  this  entireness  and  reality  of  her  deliverance,  as  portray- 
ed in  this  type.  "  As  soon,"  says  Tertullian,*  "  as  the  people 
marching  out  of  Egypt  passing  through  the  water,  escapes  the  might 
of  the  king  of  Egypt,  the  water  destroyed  the  king  himself  with  all 
his  hosts.  What  more  manifest  figure  of  the  sacrament  of  Baptism? 
The  nations  are  freed  from  the  world,  namely  by  water ;  and  the 
devil,  their  former  ruler,  they  leave  overwhelmed  in  the  sea."  "  Is 
any  perplexed,"  asks  S.  Cyprian,!  as  to  a  peculiar  and  painful  case, 
"  because  some  who  are  baptized  when  sick,  are  still  assaulted  by 
unclean  spirits,  let  him  know  that  the  pertinacious  wickedness  of 
the  devil  has  power  up  to  the  saving  water,  but  in  Baptism  loses  all  its 
venomous  influence.  A  type  whereof  we  see  in  king  Pharaoh,  who 
long  struggling,  and  treacherously  delaying,  could  resist  and  prevail, 
until  he  came  to  the  water  ;  having  come  thither  he  was  conquered 
and  destroyed.  But  that  sea  the  Apostle  Paul  declares  to  be  the 
mysterious  image  of  our  Baptism,  where  he  says,  '  I  would  not 
have  you  ignorant,  &c.,'  and  he  subjoins,  '  All  these  things  were 
images  of  us.'"  "The J  passage  of  the  people  through  the  sea  sig- 
nified in  type  nothing  else  than  the  passage  of  the  faithful  through 
Baptism,  as  the  Apostle  testifieth.  The  passage  through  the  sea 
signified,  then,  no  other  than  the  sacrament  of  the  baptized  ;  the 
Egyptians  pursuing,  nothing  else  than  the  multitude  of  past  oflences. 
Ye  behold  how  evident  the  mystery  !  the  Egyptians  press,  urge  ; 
the  sins  then  follow  hard,  but  only  to  the  water.  Why  fearest 
thou,  then,  who  hast  not  come,  to  come  to  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  to 
pass  through  the  Red  Sea?  Why  fearest  thou?  Does  the  con- 
sciousness of  some  exceeding  transgressions  harass  and  torment  thy 
mind  ?  If  any  Egyptians  lived,  then  fear  lest  any  sins  remain  in 
thee.''^      And  for  the  sequel,  i^  "But  the  way  is  perilous  ;  for  when  I 

*  De  Bapt.  c.  9.  f  Ep-  76.  ad  Magn.  v.  fin. 

X  Aug.  in  Ps.  80.  \  8. 

^  Serm.  352.  de  Pcenit.  2.  \  6-  The  previous  part  is  much  the  same  as 
that  on  Ps.  80.  In  like  vi^ay  St.  Basil,  de  Sp.  S.  c.  14.  "  Who  is  wise  and 
he  shall  understand  this,  how  the  sea,  typically  Baptism,  severed  from  Pha- 
raoh, as  our  laver  does  from  the  tyranny  of  the  devil.  The  sea  slew  in  him- 
self the  enemy  ;  and  here  also  our  enmity  to  God  dies.  The  people  went  forth 
scathless  ;  and  we  ascend  from  the  water,  as  alive  from  the  dead,  saved  by  the 
grace  of  Him  Who  called  us."  And  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  de  Bapt.  Christi, 
T.  3.  p.  375.  "  The  people  passed  through,  and  the  Egyptian  king,  with  his 
army,  was  drowned,  and  the  history  prophesied  of  this  mystery.     For  now 


252 

shall  have  passed  the  Red  Sea,  I  shall  not  yet  be  in  the  land  of  pro- 
mise ;  that  people  was  led  through  long  desert  tracts.  Yet  at  least 
be  freed  from  Egypt.  Thinkest  thou,  He  will  fail  thee  in  the  way, 
who  freed  thee  from  thy  ancient  captivity  ?  Will  He  not  restrain 
thy  new  adversaries  who  freed  thee  from  thy  ancient  enemies  ? 
Only  pass  through  fearlessly,  walk  fearlessly,  be  obedient." 

The  other  point  of  instruction  from  this  type,  adverted  to,  may 
be  spoken  of  more  briefly,  since  it  is  not  so  much  matter  of  doc- 
trine as  of  impression,  a  tone  of  feeling  derived  from  this  and  similar 
images.  But  certainly  it  seems  a  striking  instance  of  the  sacra- 
mental character  of  the  Old  Testament, — how  God  prepared  men 
beforehand  for  the  prominence  in  the  Christian  life,  which  He  has 
assigned  to  His  mysteries, — that  the  type  of  Baptism  seems  placed, 
as  it  were,  on  purpose  to  transmit  Israel  to  the  type  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist.  The  typical  people  is  once  for  all  freed  from  his  ene- 
mies, and  then  he  is  received  by  the  other  mystery,  whose  outward 
inadequacy  to  sustain  life,  its  uniformity,  and  its  simplicity,  form 
thenceforth  great  part  of  his  trial,  whether  he  will  receive  it  as  God 
ordained  it,  or  no  ;  and  this  accompanies  him  through  his  whole 
pilgrimage  until  he  enter  into  his  rest.  "  Thou*  shalt  remember  all 
the  way,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee  these  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee,  to  know  v/hat  was  in 
thy  heart,  whether  thou  wouldst  keep  His  commandments  or  no  : 
and  He  humbled  thee,  and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee  with 
manna,  which  thou  knewest  not,  neither  did  thy  fathers  know,  that 
He  might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God  doth  man 
live."  "Andf  the  manna  ceased  on  the  morrow; — neither  had  the 
children  of  Israel  manna  any  more."     The  prominence  assigned  to 

also  when  the  people,  fleeing  Egypt,  i.  e.  hateful  sin,  cometh  to  the  water  of 
regeneration,  it  is  freed  and  saved,  but  the  devil  with  his  ministers,  I  mean  the 
spirits  of  evil,  is  choked  with  grief  and  destroyed,  accounting  man's  salvation 
his  calamity,"  Jerome,  Ep.  69.  ad  Ocean.  "  Pharaoh  with  his  army,  who 
would  hinder  the  people  of  God  from  going  forth  out  of  Egypt,  is  drowned — 
the  type  of  Baptism ;  and  of  his  destruction  is  it  written  in  the  Psalms,  '  Thou 
bruisedst  the  heads  of  the  dragons  in  the  waters ;  Thou  didst  crush  the 
heads  of  the  great  dragon.'"  St.  Hilary  in  Ps.  134.  5l9.  "  Pharaoh,  i.  e.  the 
devil,  is  slain  when  the  people  is  baptized,  overwhelmed  himself  with  his 
army.  Thereupon  were  '  many  nations  destroyed ;'  countless  vices,  which 
dwelt  in  us,  were  extinguished, '  mighty  kings'  were  slain  ;  of  a  truth 'mighty.'" 
S.  Ambrose  de  Myst.  c.  3.  "  Observe  how  even  then  in  that  passage  of  the 
Hebrews  there  was  a  figure  of  holy  Baptism,  wherein  the  Egyptian  perished, 
the  Hebrew  escaped.  For  what  else  are  we  taught  daily  in  this  sacrament 
than  that  offences  are  buried,  and  error  abolished,  but  piety  and  innocence 
abide  safe  1"  Add.  de  Off.  Min.  iii.  18.  "  The  Egyptian  is  sunk,  the  Hebrew 
rises  up,  renewed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  whereby  also  he  passed  the  Red  Sea, 
with  sure  tread."  And  St.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  iii.  5.  xix.  2,  3.  Oxf.  Transl. 
*  Deut.  viii.  2,  3.  f  Josh.  v.  12. 


253 

these  types  of  the  two  sacraments  mutually  illustrates  the  eminence 
of  both  ;  and  while  they  are  again  separated  from  all  other  ordinan- 
ces, in  that  two  only  are  thus  conspicuous,  they  are  also  pointed  out 
as  the  ordained  means,  the  one  of  saving  life,  the  other  of  preserving 
it.*  The  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  leads  to  the  manna,  Baptism  to 
the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  the  manna  is  given  only  to  those  who  have 
been  thus  led  through ;  miraculous  sustenance  of  life  is  given  to 
those  only  who  had  in  a  figure  received  life  from  the  dead.  "  When," 
says  St.  Augustine,!  "  thou  shalt  have  passed  the  Red  Sea,  when 
thou  shalt  have  been  '  brought  out'  of  thine  offences  with  a  mighty 
hand  and  strong  arm,'  then  shalt  thou  share  mysteries,  which  thou 
hast  not  known."  *'  Whenj:  did  the  people  of  Israel  eat  manna  ? 
When  they  had  passed  the  Red  Sea.  And  what  the  Red  sea  sig- 
nifies, hear  from  the  Apostle.  If  then  the  type  of  the  sea  availed  so 
much,  how  much  more  the  form  of  Baptism  !  If  what  took  place 
as  a  type  led  to  the  manna  the  people,  when  brought  over,  what  will 
Christ,  in  the  reality  of  His  Baptism,  bestow  upon  His  people, 
whom  He  has  brought  over  ?  By  His  Baptism,  He  bringelh  over 
believers,  having  slain  all  sins,  as  it  were  enemies  pursuing,  as  in 
that  sea  all  the  Egyptians  perished.  Whither  doth  Jesus,  of  whom 
Moses  then,  bringing  Israel  over  the  sea,  was  a  type,  bring  us  over 
by  Baptism?  To  the  manna.  What  is  manna?  'I,'  He  saith, 
'  am  the  living  Bread,  who  came  down  from  heaven.'  The  faithful, 
when  now  brought  over  the  Red  Sea,  receive  the  manna.  Be  cate- 
chumens ashamed,  that  they  know  not  what  Christians  receive;  let 
them  pass  the  Red  Sea  ;  let  them  eat  the  manna  ;  that,  as  they 
have  trusted  in  the  Name  of  Jesus,  so  Jesus  may  entrust  Himself 
to  them."  "  Israel,"  says  St.  Basil,^  "had  not  drunk  of  the  spirit- 
ual rock,  unless  he  had  been  typically  baptized  ;  nor  will  any  one 
give  thee  the  true  cup,  unless  thou  receive  the  true  Baptism.  After 
Baptism  he  ate  the  bread  of  angels ;  and  how  shalt  thou  eat  *  the 
true  Bread,'  unless  thou  first  receive  Baptism  ?" 


*  See  above  p.  74.  The  typical  character  of  this  history  is  certain  from 
Holy  Scripture  ;  the  Exodus  is  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  (certainly  it  is 
the  most  visible)  instance  of  a  long  unbroken  series  of  types,  representing  fu- 
ture truth  not  only  separately,  but  as  a  connected  whole  ;  its  significance 
recommends  itself  to  every  one  ;  the  closeness  of  the  parallel  is  as  remarkable 
as  its  vividness  ;  it  is  for  those  then,  who  accept  it  in  the  main,  to  consider 
with  themselves,  why  they  pass  over  some  of  its  most  pointed  teaching,  and 
whereon  the  apostle  most  insists. 

t  In  Ps.  80.  5  8.  t  Id.  in  Joh.  c.  3.  Tr.  xi.  {  4. 

^  Horn,  in  S.  Baptism.  }  2. 


254 

Circumcision. 

Scarcely  less  remarkable  than  this  selection  of  scriptural  types 
of  Baptism,  or  of  events  in  the  life  of  our  Blessed  Saviour  bear- 
ing upon  it,  is  the  omission  of  another  type,  equally  sanctioned  by 
Holy  Scripture,  to  which  the  school  of  Calvin  gave  a  remarkable 
prominence — Circumcision.      It   seems   to   have   been  omitted  by 
the  ancient  liturgies,  and  not  introduced  into  our  own,  under  the 
same  feehng  with  which  the    others    were  inserted,  viz  :    that  in 
prayer  to  God,  men  naturally  appeal  to    those    things  which  He 
has    done  for  them,    as   the  ground  of   imploring  future  mercies. 
"  We  have  heard  with  our  ears,  O  God,  and  our  fathers  have  told 
us,  the  mighty  works  that  Thou  didst  in  their  times,  and  in  the 
old  times  before  them."     Whereupon  there  follows,  as  there  pre- 
cedes, the  petition,  that  "  God  will  arise,  help  us,  and  deliver  us, 
for  His  Name's  sake,  and  for  His  honor."      The  deliverance  by 
the  flood  and  the  Red    Sea    were    eminent    interpositions  of  this 
sort ;  they  not  only  signified  God's  mercy,  but,  as  far  as  this  life 
is  concerned,  they  conferred  it ;    they  were  actual  and  most  sig- 
nal temporal  mercies,  figuring   the    spiritual,  yet    to    come  :   Cir- 
cumcision also  figured  spiritual  mercies  ;  it  figured  also   spiritual 
duties  ;  but  it  conferred  not  the  one,  nor  the  strength  to  perform 
the  other.     The  flood  and  the  Red  Sea  typified  the  washing  away 
of  past  sin ;  Circumcision,  the  cutting  ofl"  "  the  sinful  lusts  of  the 
flesh,"  which  had  wrought  it,  and    would    re-produce  it.     It  was 
also  obviously  a  great  mark  of  God's  favor,  that  He  condescend- 
ed to  bring  any  to  a  nearer  approach  to  Him,  and  to  give  them  a  visi- 
ble and  distinctive  mark  ;  it  was,  (what  so  many  now  make  the 
Christian  Sacrament  to  be,)  an  outward  introduction  to  the  privileg- 
es comprised  in  being  His  people.     Yet  itself  conferred  nothing  ;  it 
was  no  mean  nor  channel  of  spiritual  grace.      Scripture  has  no 
where  the  slightest  hint  of  what  moderns   so  often  assume,  that  it 
imparled  any  spiritual  benefit :  the  Old  Testament  names  it  but  lit- 
tle ;  it  alludes  but  three  times  to  its  spiritual  meaning  ;  twice,*  to 
bid  men  themselves  do  for  themselves,  (as  far  as  under  the  old  dis- 
pensation  they  were  enabled,)  that  which  it  signified, — put  away 
their  sins  from  them  ;  in  the  remaining  placet  it  is  a  prophecy,  that 
after  the  Captivity  God  would  restore  them  to  their   own  land,  and 
there  "circumcise  their  heart,  and  the  heart  of  their  seed,  to  love  the 
Lord  their  God  with  all  their  heart,  and  with  all  their  soul,  that  they 

*  Deut.  X.  16.  Jer.  iv.  4. 

t  Deut.  XXX.  6.  St.  Cyprian  quotes  this  and  Jer.  iv.  as  prophecies  of  the 
cessation  of  the  carnal  circumcision,  and  the  bringing  in  of  the  spiritual. 
Testim.  c.  Jud.  i.  8  and  Justin  M.  who  quotes  Jer.  iv.  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  5  28. 
Orig.  Horn.  5.  in  Jerem.  5 14.  Greg.  Nyss.  Testim.  de  adv.  Dom.  T.  2.  p.  157. 


255 

might  live  ,"  a  promise  accomplished  in  the  Gospel.  In  the  New 
Testament  it  is  spoken  of,  at  best,  as  a  thing  indifferent,*  neither 
good  nor  bad,  neither  to  be  effaced  by  those  who  had  it,  nor  sought 
by  those  who  had  it  not ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  to  disparage  it,  in 
the  case  of  those  who  would  yet  stay  themselves  on  the  shadow, 
when  the  substance  was  come  :  in  the  one  place,  where  it  is  men- 
tioned as  typical  of  our  Christian  circumcision,  they  are  carefully 
distinguished.  Baptism  is  not  called  simply  by  the  name  of  this 
type  of  it  (probably  lest  the  Jews,  already  overvaluing  and  proud  of 
the  figure,  should  confound  it  with  the  substance.)  In  the  case  of 
the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  the  water  from  the  rock,  type  and  an- 
titype are  blended  together  ;  in  the  one,  their  fathers  arc  said  to  have 
been  "  baptized  ;"t  in  the  other  to  have  drunk  "  spiritual  drink  ;"  but 
Circumcision  the  Apostle  expressly  separates  from  Baptism,  and 
contrasts  the  sacrament  with  its  type,  in  that  he  calls  it  "  a  circum- 
cision made  without  hands."|  As  well  then  might  we  with  the  Jew- 
ish false-accusers,  identify  that  "  temple  made  without  hands,"  which 
our  Lord  raised  up  after  three  days,  with  the  material  Jewish  tem- 
ple ;  as  well,  that  "  building  of  God,  that  house  made  without  hands, ^ 
eternal  in  the  heavens,"  wherewith  the  faithful  "long  to  be  clothed," 
and  "groan  after,"  with  this  our  corruptible  clay,  our  "earthly 
house  ;"  as  confound  the  "  Circumcision  made  without  hands,"  with 
the  "Circumcision  made  with  hands,"  "the  Circumcision  of  Christ," 
with  the  Circumcision  of  the  law.  "Since,"  says  Theodoret,|| 
"  having  been  led  away,  they  embraced  the  observance  of  the  law, 
he  again  teaches  the  difference  of  the  Circumcision.  For,  he  says, 
it  is  not  carnal,  but  spiritual ;  not  made  with  hands,  but  divine  ;  not 
the  taking  away  of  a  little  flesh,  but  the  freeing  from  all  corruption. 
And  of  these  things  the  source  is,  not  the  law,  but  the  Lord  Christ, 
the  lawgiver  of  the  law  ;  for  this  he  means  by  '  in  Whom  ye  were 
circumcised,'  and  again  'in  the  circumcision  of  Christ.'  "  And  St. 
Chrysostome,1[  "  Circumcision,"  he  says,  "is  no  longer  with  the 
knife,  but  in  Christ  Himself.  For  not,  as  before,  doth  the  hand 
effect  this  circumcision,  but  the  Spirit.  It  circumciseth  not  a  part, 
but  the  whole  man.  The  one  is  a  body,  the  other  also  is  a  body^ 
but  the  one  is  circumcised  in  the  flesh,  the  other  spiritually.  It  is 
not  then  as  with  the  Jews.  For  ye  have  not  stripped  off  the  flesh, 
but  sins.  When  and  how  ?  in  Baptism.  And  what  he  calls  '  cir- 
cumcision,' again  he  calls  a  tomb.  He  speaketh  of  what  is  greater 
than  circumcision,  for  they  did  not  merely  cast  away  what  was  cir- 
cumcised, but  they  destroyed  it,  they  effaced  it." 

Thus  also  did  the  whole  of  Antiquity  understand  Holy  Scripture. 

*  1  Cor.  vii.  13.  t  lb.  X.  a,  4. 

tCol.  ii.  11.  ^  iCor.  V.  1. 

II  Ad  loc.  1  Ad  loc. 


256 

They  thought  not  of  comparing  the  shadows  with  the  substance,  the 
symbols  with  the  reahty,  the  image  with  the  truth,  the  introductory 
rites  with  the  witnesses  of  His  Presence.  The  reformed  school  con- 
founded them,  partly,  in  seeking  over-anxiously  for  some  scriptural 
justification  of  Infant  Baptism,  since  they  debarred  themselves  from 
appealing  to  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  partly,  from  having  lost 
sight  of  the  characteristic  of  the  Christian  Sacraments, — the  union 
with  Christ.  Denying  them  to  be  means  of  grace,  they  could  not 
but  esteem  them  equivalent  to  the  signs  of  the  Old  Testament.  Both 
are  significant  rites  ;  the  Ancient  Church  believed,  that  the  rites  of 
the  law  signified  "the  good  things  to  come,"  but  could  not  convey 
them,  because  He  in  Whom  they  were  to  be  bestowed  upon  us,  was 
not  yet  come  ;  while  it  is  by  virtue  of  that  coming  in  our  flesh,  that 
the  Christian  Sacraments  do  convey  them.  The  modern  school  held, 
in  fact,  that  those  gifts  were  conveyed  by  neither  ;  that  the  symbols 
of  tlie  Old  Testament,  and  the  Sacraments  of  the  New,  were  alike 
signs  of  God's  grace,  not  its  channels  ;  that  where  the  sign  w^as  giv- 
en, the  substance  also  was  given,  although  independently,  and  with- 
out connection  with  the  sign  ;  and  that,  consequently,  regeneration 
(which  is  signified  by  circumcision)  was  bestowed  upon  those  to 
whom  was  given  the  sign  of  circumcision  ;*  and  that  Baptism  in  the 
Name  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  only  a  sign  like  those  of  the  older 
dispensation.! 

The  traces  of  this  system  are  found,  even  where  it  is  not  strictly 
received.  It  may  be  well  then,  as  a  corrective,  to  exhibit  the  mark- 
ed way  in  which  the  fathers  contrast  circumcision  with  its  antitype, 
our  Baptism  in  Christ.  "  This  circumcision,"  says  S.  Justin,  M.J 
is  not  necessary  to  all,  but  to  you  only — For  neither  that  unprofitable 
baptism  of  *  cisterns'  do  we  receive.  For  it  is  nothing  to  this  Bap- 
tism of  life.  Wherefore  also  God  cried  aloud,  that  '  ye  left  Him  the 
living  Fountain,  and  dug  for  yourselves  broken  cisterns,'  which  can 
hold  no  water.     And  ye,  the  circumcised  in  the  flesh,  need  our  cir- 

*  Ainsvporth's  Censure  upon  a  Dialogue  of  the  Anabaptists,  p.  49.  "  They 
to  whom  God  giveth  the  signe  and  seale  of  righteousness  by  faith,  and  of  re- 
generation, they  have  faith  and  regeneration  ;  for  God  giveth  no  lying  signe ; 
Hee  sealeth  no  vaine  or  false  Covenant.  But  God  gave  to  infants  circumcis- 
ion, which  was  the  signe  and  seale  of  the  righteousnesse  of  faith  and  regene- 
ration. Gen.  xvii.  12;  Rom.  iv.  11,  and  ii.  28,  29  ;  Col.  ii.  11.  Therefore  in- 
fants had  (and,  consequently,  now  have)  faith  and  regeneration,  though  not 
in  the  crop  and  harvest  by  declaration,  yet  in  the  bud  and  beginning  of  all 
Christian  graces.  They  that  deny  this  reason,  must  either  make  God  the 
author  of  a  lying  signe  and  seale  of  the  Covenant  to  Abraham  and  his  infants, 
or  they  must  hold,  that  infants  had  those  graces  then,  but  not  now  ;  both  which 
are  wicked  and  absurd  to  affirme.  Or  they  must  say,  that  circumcision  was 
not  the  signe  and  seale  of  the  righteousness  of  faith,  and  then  they  openly  con 
tradict  the  Scripture.     Rom.  iv.  11."     Comp.  Calv.  Instit.  iv.  16.  4. 

t  See  note  K.  at  the  end.  %  Dial  c.  Tryph.  §  19- 


257 

cumcision  ;  but  we,  having  this,  have  no  need  of  the  other." 
Whereupon  S.  Justin  proceeds  to  argue  that  had  circumcision  been 
necessary,  God  would  not  have  accepted  Abel,  or  Enoch,  or  Lot,  or 
Noah,  being  uncircumcised,  or  Melchisedech,  to  whom,  although  un- 
circumcised,  Abraham,  who  first  received  circumcision  in  the  flesh, 
paid  tithes.  Afterwards,*  he  insists  on  what  St.  Paul  said,  that 
"  Abraham  received  circumcision  for  a  sign,  not  for  justification,  as 
the  Scriptures  and  the  very  fact  compel  us  to  confess,"  in  tacit  con- 
trast with  Baptism  as  the  means  of  justification  ;  and  that  women 
could  not  receive  the  circumcision  in  the  flesh"  [as  they  do  Baptism] 
"  showing  that  circumcision  is  given  for  a  sign,  not  to  work  right- 
eousness." "  I  cry  aloud,"  he  adds,t  "  the  blood  of  that  circumcis- 
ion hath  been  done  away;  and  we  have  behaved  in  the  saving  Blood; 
now  there  is  another  covenant,  and  another  '  law'  has  '  gone  forth 
from  Zion.'  Christ,  the  true  Joshua,  circumcises  all  who  will,  as 
was  preached  beforehand,  with  knives  of  stone,  that  there  may  be  a 
righteous  nation."  "  See  ye,"  he  observes,!  "  how  God  rejects  this 
circumcision,  which  was  given  as  a  sig.i  ?  for  it  profits  neither  the 
Egyptians,  nor  the  children  of  Moab,  nor  of  Edom.  But  be  any- 
even  a  Scythian  or  Persian,  and  have  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
His  Christ,  and  keep  he  the  everlasting  righteousness,  he  is  circum- 
cised with  the  excellent  and  helpful  circumcision,  and  is  a  friend  of 
God  ;  and  God  is  pleased  with  his  gifts  and  oblations."  "  What^ 
account  of  circumcision  to  me,  who  have  this  testimony  of  God  ?  or 
what  need  of  that  Baptism,  who  have  been  baptized  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  ?"  "  Thatll  command  that  children  should  be  circumcised  on 
the  eighth  day,  was  a  type  of  the  true  circumcision,  wherewith  we 
Avere  circumcised  from  error  and  wickedness  through  Him  Who 
rose  from  the  dead,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  Jesus  Christ  our 

*  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  5  23. 

t  lb.  }  24.  St.  Ambrose,  i-i  like  way,  considers  the  shedding  of  blood  in  cir- 
cumcision as  belonging  tP  the  typical  character  of  the  old  dispensation,  and  no 
longer  necessary,  when  "by  the  shedding  of  the  Blood  of  the  Lord,  the  price 
was  paid  to  ransom  us  all." — Ep.  72.  ad  Constantium,  5  9.  So  Orig.  in  Rom. 
L.  11.  { 13.  p.  495.  ed.  de  la  Rue. 

t  lb.  5  28.  on  Jer.  ix.  25.  ^  lb.  ^  29. 

II  Dial.  c.  Tryp^-  }  41.  Justin  M.  refers  to  this  again  {  24.  It  occurs  also 
in  S.  Cyprian  (below,  p.  259.)  S.  Cyril  Alex.  Glaph.  in  Gen.  L.  3.  p.  80.  in 
Joan  L.  iv.  c.  7.  pp.  432  [ex  err.  424]  and  438.  Aug.  de  nupt.  et  concup.  ii. 
c.  11.  de  pecc.  orig.  c.  31.  Op.  Imp.  c.  Julian,  ii.  151 ;  iv.  134.  Ep.  157.  ad. 
Hilar.  {  14.  Ambrose  de  Abr.  c.  xi.  J  79.  Origin  refers  the  eighth  day  to  the 
♦'world  to  come,"  (which  comes  indeed  to  the  same,  as  being  opened  to  us  by 
His  resurrection.)  Horn.  8.  in  Lev.  {  4.  (see  above,  p.  246.)  The  de  sabb.  et 
circ.  (c.  5.)  "  that  the  regeneration  of  all  should  be  after  the  seventh  day.  For 
circumcision  signified  nothing  else  than  the  putting  off  of  the  birth.  For  we 
are  stripped  of  him  who  died  on  the  sixth  day"  (Adam's  fall  on  the  Friday) 
and  are  renewed  on  the  Lord's  day,  when  the  old  man  being  stripped  off  was 
born  again  through  the  Resurrection." 

VOL.  II. — 9 


258 

Lord."  "  And  we*  who  through  Him  have  approached  to  God,  have 
received  the  circumcision,  not  in  the  flesh,  but  the  spiritual,  which 
Enoch,  and  those  Hke  him,  kept.  But  we,  having  become  sinners, 
received  it  through  Baptism,  by  the  mercy  of  God ;  and  all  may 
alike  receive  it."  Such  are  the  chief  contrasts,  which  Justin  M. 
draws  between  Circumcision  and  Baptism ;  the  one  the  type,  the 
other  the  substance  ;  the  one  a  "  broken  cistern,"  the  other  a  living 
fountain  ;  the  one  circumcision  in  the  flesh,  the  other  in  the  Spirit ; 
the  one  a  mere  mark  of  one  people,  rejected  by  God,  unprofitable, 
incapable  of  justifying,  the  other  a  '*  Baptism  to  life,"  "  excellent," 
*'  helpful,"  "  wrought  by  Christ  Himself"  "  to  justification,"  making 
our  persons  and  oblations  acceptable  to  Him,  "  to  the  end  that  we 
may  be  a  righteous  nation  ;"  a  "  Baptism  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  through 
the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord."  S.  Irenaeusf  uses  the  same  argu- 
ment as  Justin  M.,  as  to  the  patriarchs  who  pleased  God,  being  un- 
circumcised,  regarding  also  circumcision  as  a  mere  intermediate  or- 
dinance, and  looking  upon  the  patriarchs  who  pleased  God  without 
it,  as  a  sort  of  anticipation  of  Christian  holiness.  "  This  faith  amid 
uncircumcision,  as  joining  the  end  to  the  beginning,  was  made  the 
first  and  the  last.  For  it  existed  in  Abraham  and  the  other  saints, 
who  pleased  God,  before  circumcision  ;  and  again  in  the  last  times, 
it  sprung  up  in  the  human  race,  through  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 
But  circumcision  and  the  law  occupied  the  intermediate  period." 
The  imperfection  of  circumcision  he  derives  from  Holy  Scripture.^ 
"  But  that  God  gave  circumcision,  not  as  a  perfecter  of  righteousness, 
but  as  a  sign  whereby  the  race  of  Abraham  might  remain  distin- 
guished, we  learn  from  Holy  Scripture  itself  (Gen.  xvii,  9.  sqq.) 
These  things"  (Circumcision  and  the  Sabbath)  "were  given  for  a 
sign,  but  they  were  not  without  a  symbolical  meaning,  nor  superflu- 
ous, as  having  been  given  by  a  wise  Aitificer ;  but  the  circumcision 
after  the  flesh  signified  the  spiritual  Circumcision."  S.  Irenseus  pro- 
ceeds, "that  man  was  not  justified  by  the&«»  things,  but  that  they 
were  given  as  a  sign  to  the  people."  Tertullian  refers  to  the  patri- 
archs, as  did  Justin  M.  and  Irenaeus,  as  a  proof  against  the  inherent 
necessity  of  Circumcision  ;  denies  that  it  cleanses  man  ;"6  says  that 
Abrahamll  received  it,  as  a  sign  for  those  times,  not  for  any  saving 
privilege  in  it ;  that  the  case  of  Zipporah  shows  that  it  had  no  saving 
efficacy,  else  had  not  Moses  neglected  it ;"  but  that  "  God  foreseeing 
that  He  should  give  this  circumcision  as  a  sign,  not  for  salvation,  to 
the  people  of  Israel,  therefore  suggested  the  circumcision  of  the  son 
of  Moses  their  future  leader,  lest  they  should  despise  it.  For  cir- 
cumcision was  to  be  given  ;  but  as  a  sign  whereby  Israel  might  be 

♦  lb,  {  43.  t  iv.  25.  (al.  42.) 

I  iv.  16,  (sj.  30.)  L  2.  i  Adv.  Jud.  c.  2. 

II  lb.  c.  3. 


259 

distinguished."  Elsewhere*  he  calls  circumcision  "  the  badge  of 
servitude."  S.  Cyprian  puts  down  against  the  Jewsf  the  same 
heads  of  argument  as  Justin  M.,  the  case  of  the  patriarchs,  and  "  that 
that  seal  avails  not  to  women,  whereas  "  by  the  mark  of  the  Lord  all 
are  sealed  ;"t  and  hence,  and  from  prophecy  he  would  show  "  that 
the  first  carnal  circumcision  is  made  void,  a  second  spiritual  one 
promised."  So  again  as  to  the  type  contained  in  the  eighth  day. 
"  The§  observation  of  the  eighth  day  in  the  Jewish  carnal  circum- 
cision, is  a  sacrament  premised  before  in  shadow  and  image,  but  fill- 
ed up  in  reality,  when  Christ  came.  For  since  the  eighth  day,  i.  e. 
the  first  day  after  the  sabbath,  was  to  be  that  whereon  the  Lord 
should  rise  again,  and  give  us  life  and  the  spiritual  circumcision,  this 
eighth  day,  i.  e.  the  first  after  the  sabbath,  and  the  ]iOrd's  day,  pre- 
ceded in  the  image  ;  which  image  afterwards  ceased  when  the  truth 
supervened,  and  the  spiritual  circumcision  w^as  given."  Origen  con- 
trasts in  the  same  way,  "  the  carnal  circumcision,"  with  the  spiritu- 
al, of  which  he  says,  "  we  are  instructedll  by  the  Apostle  Paul  that 
it  was  a  type,  as  many  other  things  took  place  as  figures  and  images 
of  the  future  truth,"  (quoting  Phil.  iii.  2,  3.  Rom.  ii.  28,  29. ;)  he  con- 
trasts it  with  our  *'  Baptismal  in  water  and  the  Spirit ;"  "  the  spiritual 
circumcision  of  mind,  and  that  which  our^Lord  gave  us  ;"**  says  that 
circumcision  is  not  a  good  in  itself,  otherwise  it  would  not  have  been 
omitted  in  the  wilderness, ft  but  only  of  use  for  a  time  as  a  mark; 
that  "  nolXt  Jesus  son  of  Nun,  but  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
circumcised  with  the  true  and  perfect  circumcision  ;"  for  that  "  He 
it  was.  Who  truly  took  away  and  cut  off"  from  us  the  pollution  of  the 
flesh,  and  cleansed  qur  heart  and  soul  from  the  defilement  of  sin ;" 
that  "  the  circumcision  in  the  flesh  purifieth  not  the  soul  -"^^  and 
sums  up,  by  placing  it  among  all  the  other  figures  of  the  law  :||||  "As 

*  Adv.  Marcioiiv  v.  4.  f  Testira.  adv.  Jud.  i.  8. 

1  See  above,  p.  114.  sqq.  ^  Ep.  59.  ad  Fid. 

I  Horn.  3.  in  Gen.  {  4.  and  Comm.  in  Matt.  Tom.  xii.  5  3.  He  compares  it 
to  the  gestures  of  Zacharias,as  in  itself  a  mere  dumb  picture  and  work.  Horn. 
5.  in  Luc. 

T[  Horn.  7.  in  Exod.  {  1. 

**  Select,  in  Jos.  5-  2. 

ft  The  same  argument  is  used  in  the  Testim.  de  Adv.  Dom.  adv.  Jud.  ap. 
Greg.  Nyss.  T.  2.  p.  157.  St.  Jerome  refers  to  it,  in  Gal.  iii.  7.  St.  Ciirysos- 
tome,Hom.  6.  in  Rom.  (ii.  25.)  Anastasius,  Bp.  of  Nice,  Quaest.18.  in  Script. 
Biblioth.  S.  T.  6.  ap.  Justinian,  ad  Rom.  iv.  9. 

%X  Hom.  6.  in  Jos.  init.  The  typical  nature  of  the  circumcision  by  Joshua 
is  again  pointed  out  by  Origen,  Ep.  ad  Rom.  L.  2.  J 13.  Sel.  in  Jos.  v.  2.  "  the 
knife  of  stone  signifies  our  Lord,  Who  gave  us  the  spiritual  circumcision  of 
mind  and  heart."  Justin  M.  ab.  p.  257.  S.  Cyprian,  Testim.  i.  8.  (Atha- 
nasius)  de  Sabb.  et  circ.  {  6.  S.  Jerome,  adv.  Jovin.  {21.  S.  Cyril  Alex. 
in  Joh.  L.  iv.  p.  438.  S.  Aug.  de  pecc.  orig.  c.  31.  Serm.  168.  de  verb.  Ap.  1 
Cor.  i.  5  4.  and  other  places. 

^^  In  Ep.  ad  Rom.  L.  2.  }  13.  p.  493.  ed.  de  la  Rue.  m  lb.  p.  496. 


260 

many  baptisms  were  necessary  before  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  and 
many  purify ings  before  there  was  the  purifying  through  ihe  Holy 
Spirit,  and  many  sacrifices,  before  that  One  Sacrifice,  the  Lamb 
without  spot,  Christ  offered  Himself  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Father  ;  so 
were  there  needed  many  circumcisions,  until  in  Christ  one  circum- 
cision was  given  to  all;  and  the  blood  of  many  was  shed  beforehand,* 
until,  through  the  Blood  of  One,  was  wrought  the  redemption  of  all." 
It  ceased  not  (as  Calvin  taught)  because  it  was  superseded  by  an- 
other sign  equally  arbitrary  and  unsubstantial :  but,  because  the  sub- 
stance was  given,  the  shadow  ceased  of  course  ;  the  King  Himself 
was  come,  and  to  what  end  His  representative  ?  Thus  ihe  ancient 
authort  of  the  treatise  on  circumcision,  if  not  S.  Athanasius  himself, 
"  For  circumcision  Was  a  type  of  the  putting  off  the  old  man  in  Bap- 
tism. Abraham  having  believed,  received  circumcision,  being  a  sign 
of  the  regeneration  through  Baptism.  Wherefore  when  the  thing 
signified  came,  the  sign  ceased.  For  circumcision  was  the  sigtT,  the 
washing  of  regeneration  the  thing  signified.  For  when  the  old  man 
was  put  off,  that  which  signified  this  in  part,  was  superfluous.  And 
as  the  Lord's  day  is  the  beginning  of  the  creation,  and  makes  the 
sabbath  to  cease,  so  this,  having  regenerated  the  man,  caused  cir- 
cumcision to  cease ;  and  as  the  sacrifices  were  shadows  of  the  things 
to  come,  so  was  the  partial  circumcision  a  shadow  of  the  entire. 
This  took  place  then  for  a  type  of  Baptism  through  Chiist.  For 
then  it  took  place  in  part,  as  in  a  shadow  ;  but  now,  as  the  Apostle 
said,  we  put  off  the  whole  of  our  earthly  birth,  being  reborn  through 
'  the  laver,'  that  we  may  no  more  die  according  to  our  first  birth,  but 
may  live  according  to  that  circumcision  of  '  the  putting  off  of  ihe 
body,'  which  we  do  put  off  through  the  laver  :  and  as  the  Lord  said 
to  Joshua,  'to-day  have  I  removed  the  reproach  of  Egypt  from  you,* 
so,  and  much  more,  may  it  be  said  to  each  of  those  now  baptized, 
this  day,  the  same  day  have  I  taken  away  the  reproach  of  your 
earthly  birth,  and  the  reproach  of  the  corruption  of  death  from  you." 
So  again,  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  terms  it  a  "  typical  seal  ;"|  Eu- 
sebius^  "  a  sort  of  seal  to  distinguish  the  posterity  of  Abraham." 
St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalemll  speaks  of  it  as  a  type,  contrasted  with  our 
"  spiritual  circumcision  in  Baptism  ;"  as  does  St.  Jeromel"  of  the  cir- 
cumcision by  Joshua.  St.  Basil**  contrasts  it,  in  St.  Paul's  words^ 
with  "the  circumcision  made  without  hands,  in  the  putting  off  of  the 
flesh,  perfected  in  Baptism.     In  the  one  was  pain  and  a  sore  ;  here 

*  See  above,  p.  257,  n.  2. 

t  De  Sabb.  et  Circ.  c.  5,  6.  ap.  Athanas.  0pp.  T.  2.  p.  58,  9.  The  Bene- 
dictines say  "  there  is  no  means  of  deciding  whether  it  be  his  or  no ;  but  at 
least,  it  is  the  work  of  some  pious  and  learned  man." 

t  Orat.  xl.  27.  ^  Dem.  Ev.  i.  6. 

I  Lect.  v.  6.  Tf  In  Gal.  iii.  7. 

**  Horn,  in  S.  Bapt.  J  2. 


261 

we  liave  the  dew  of  the  soul,  and  a  cure  of  the  sore  of  the  heart." 
St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  with  "  the  spiritual  and  divine  circumcis- 
ion,"* "  from  the  living  Word  ;"t  which  suffereth  us  not  to  be  defil- 
ed with  the  pleasures  of  the  flesh,  nor  to  be  steeped  in  this  world's 
toils,  but  frees  us  from  death  and  corruption,  and  makes  us  '  partak- 
ers of  the  Divine  Nature,'  through  the  participation  of  our  Saviour 
Christ ;"  "  the  purifying^  through  the  Spirit,  in  the  faith  and  Res- 
urrection of  Christ,  which  casteth  out  all  sin,  destroyeth  death  and 
corruption,  and  obtaineth  sanctification^and  union  with  Christ,  is  the 
image  of  freedom,  the  way  and  door  to  friendship  with  God."  St. 
Epiphanus<j  speaks  of  it  as  imperfect,  and  given  as  a  sign  only  and 
memorial  to  them  afterwards,  and  as  a  type  of  that  great  Circumcis- 
ion, which  accomplisheth  every  thing  equally  in  all  to  whom  it  is 
vouchsafed,  which  now  He  had  come  and  fulfilled,  having  given  the 
perfect  Circumcision  of  His  own  Mysteries,  not  in  one  member  only, 
but  sealing  the  whole  body  and  circumcising  it  from  sin  ;  and  not 
saving  a  portion  of  the  people,  i.  e.  not  men  only,  but  sealing  in  truth 
the  whole  Christian  people,  and  giving  them  abundantly  the  inheri- 
tance of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  giving  the  seal,  not,  for  its  weak- 
ness, confined  to  the  one  order,  men  only,  but  laying  open  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  to  the  whole  people,  through  the  seal  and  command- 
ments, and  wholesome  instruction."  And  again, ||  "  The  carnal 
circumcision  served  for  a  time,  until  the  great  Circumcision,  i.  e. 
Baptism,  which  circumcisethus  from  sin,  and  sealeth  us  to  the  Name 
of  God."  Prosper^!  calls  it  "  a  corporeal  sign  of  the  promise,  which 
lasted  to  the  birth  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  passed  into  the 
spiritual  sacrament  of  the  true  circumcision  of  the  heart ;"  a  con- 
temporary,** "  a  sign  figuring,  that  circumcision  of  the  heart  which 
shines  forth  in  the  New  Testament ;"  Primasius,tt  "  a  sign,  not  an 
augmentation  of  righteousness."  St.  Hilary  It  asks,  "  What  will  that 
circumcision,  which  was  instituted  as  a  sign  only,  now  profit  the 
Jews,  not  having  the  Author  of  the  spiritual  circumcision  ?"  S. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,§^  Anastasius,  B.  of  Nice,||i|  and  TheodoretlH  say, 
"  it  justifieth  none  ;"  S.  Jerome,***  "  it  is  utterly  nothing,"  that  it  was 

*  In  Mich.  T.  3.  p.  470.  t  In  Job.  L.  iv.  p.  437. 

X  lb.  438.  comp.  p.  432.  ^  Hser.  xxx.  33,  34. 

II  Hser.  viii.  6.  add  Hser.  xxviii.  4.  Again  he  calls  circumcision  "  a  visible 
seal,  given  as  a  type  of  the  true  and  invisible." — Haer.  xxx.  27. 

^  Chronic.  Abram. 

**  Auct.  lib.  de  Promiss.  et  Praed.  Dei.  i.  14.  ap.  Prosper, -T.  2.  p.  70. 

tt  Ad  Rom.  iv.  "  signum  est  justitise  non  augmentum."  His  commentary  is 
from  older  fathers. 

I+In  Ps.  118.  lit.  13.  H-P-  131,  2. 

<^\  Testim.  1.  c.  ||I|  1.  c. 

T[t  Qu.  68.  in  Gen.  ***  In  Gal.  v.  2. 


262 

"given  for  a  sign  ;"*  S.  Chrysostomef  and  Epiphanins,t  "it  is  ut- 
terly of  no  avail  ;"  Archelaus,^  "  it  can  save  none."  St.  Ambrosell 
argues  from  the  apostle's  words,  "  the  sign  of  circumcision ;"  but 
the  sign  is  of  something  else,  and  not  the  thing  itself,  i.  e.  not  the 
truth,  but  pointing  to  the  truth.  Whence  we  understand  rightly,  that 
carnal  circumcision  is  a  sign  of  the  spiritual.  The  sign  then  remain- 
ed until  the  truth  should  come.  The  Lord  Jesus  came,  Who  saith, 
I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  For  He  circumciseth,  not 
a  small  portion  of  the  body,  as  a  sign,  but  the  whole  man  in  truth ; 
because  '  after  that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  was  in  part 
is  done  away;'  and  therefore  the  partial  circumcision  ceased,  when 
the  circumcision  of  the  whole  dawned.  For  now,  not  in  part,  but 
the  whole  man  is  saved  in  body,  is  saved  in  soul."  "  The  seal  and 
form  of  circumcision  itself  was  not  superfluous,  in  that  the  people  of 
God,  marked,  as  it  were,  by  a  seal  on  the  body,  was  distinguished 
from  all  other  nations.  But  now,  having  the  name  of  Christ  vouch- 
safed him,  he  no  longer  needs  any  bodily  mark,  on  whom  has  been 
bestowed  the  privilege  to  be  named  with  the  Name  of  God."1[  St. 
Ambrose  also,  though  giving  many  spiritual  applications  of  the  Chris- 
tian circumcision,  identifies  it  wiih  Baptism  as  its  channel,  as  with 
the  Passion  as  the  source  of  its  efficacy.  "  As**  many  sorts  of  bap- 
tisms were  premised,  because  there  was  to  follow  that  one  true  Sa- 
crament of  Baptism  '  in  the  Spirit  and  water,'  whereby  the  whole 
man  is  redeemed,  so  the  circumcision  of  many  was  to  be  premised, 
because  there  was  to  follow  the  circumcision  of  the  Passion  of  the 
Lord,  which  Jesus  suffered  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  He  might  take 
away  the  sins  of  the  world."  To  close  this  list  with  the  contrast  of 
S.  Chrysostome,tt  which  may  illustrate  how  the  Church  felt  her  priv- 
ileges and  the  duties  consequent.  "  Consider  now,  beloved,  the 
loving-kindnesses  of  God,  and  His  unspeakable  goodness  towards 
us.  In  circumcision,  there  was  both  pain  and  trouble  from  it  at  the 
time,  and  no  oiher  benefit  than  only  this,  that  they  were  distinguish- 
able by  this  sign,  and  separated  from  all  other  nations.  But  our  cir- 
cumcision, the  grace,  I  mean,  of  Baptism,  brings  a  cure  without 
pain,  and  procureth  for  us  countless  goods,  and  fills  us  with  the 
grace  of  the  Spirit,  and  is  not  restrained  to  a  definite  time,  (as  was 

*  In  Jerem.  L.  2.  c.  9.  ult. 

t  "  St.  Paul  might  have  said  that  the  prophets  call  the  Jews  uncircumcised, 
but  this  had  been  no  disparagement  of  circumcision,  only  of  those  who  used  it 
amiss.  But  his  object  is  to  show  that  it  hath  no  value  whatever,  even  with  the 
very  best  life." — Horn.  6.  in  Rom.  (ii.  25.) 

I  Ha3r.  XXX.  33. 

\  Ep.  ad  Diodor.  ap.  Routh,  Reliq.  T.  iv.  p.  241. 

II  De  Abr.  i.  4.  5  29.  Add.  Ep.  72.  ad  Constantium,  5  15.  23. 
1  Ep.  72.  5  10.  **  lb.  }  18. 

tt  Horn.  40.  in  Gen.  17.  5  4. 


circumcision,)  but  any,  whether  in  early  or  middle  life,  or  in  old 
age  itself,  may  receive  the  '  circumcision  made  without  hands,' 
wherein  there  is  no  pain  to  be  undergone,  but  the  burthen  of  sin  is 
laid  aside,  and  forgiveness  found  for  all  transgressions  of  all  the  past. 
For  the  all-gracious  God,  knowing  our  exceeding  weakness,  and  that 
being  incurably  sick,  we  need  a  mighty  medicine  and  ineffable  lov- 
ing kindness,  compassing  our  salvation,  gave  us  the  'renovation' 
through  *  the  washing  of  regeneration,'  that  *  having  laid  aside  the 
old  man,'  i.  e.  our  evil  actions,  and  *  put  on  the  new  man,'  we  may 
walk  on  the  way  of  goodness.  Be  we  not  then  worse,  I  entreat, 
than  the  ungrateful  and  insensate  Jews." 

Such  then  was  the  Catholic  view  of  the  relation  of  circumcision 
to  Baptism  ;  the  witnesses  adduced  are  from  well  nigh  every 
Church,  and  from  the  earliest  times  ;  from  Palestine,  Antioch,  Asia 
Minor,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt,  Atrica  Proper,  Gaul,  N.  &  S.  Italy ;  nor 
is  there  any  contradicting  voice.  In  the  later  ]jatin  Church,  how- 
ever, a  somewhat  different  view  prevailed,  traceable  to  the  influence 
of  one  powerful  mind,  and,  as  being  so  traceable,  of  no  moment  in 
ascertaining  the  view  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  result  of  the  work- 
ings of  one  mind,  not  the  property  of  the  Church.  The  view  of  St. 
Augustine  was  inherited  on  his  authority  through  S.  Thomas*  by 
the  schoolmen ;  and  through  Pope  Gregory,!  by  the  later  adherents 
of  Rome  ;|  but  it  is  the  view  of  one  man,  opposed,  in  its  degree,  to 
that  of  the  Church.  St.  Augustine  came  to  his  view  in  the  course  of 
his  controversy  with  the  Pelagians.  And  in  this  way,  other  fathers 
had  noticed  the  temporal  deliverances  connected  with  circumcision, 
as  that  the  passage  of  Jordan  was  connected  with  the  renewal  of 
circumcision, §  or  that  the  destroying  angel  departed  when  Zipporahi 

•  3  part,  qu,  62.  ar^  6.  ap.  Feurdent  1.  c. 

t  Moral,  iv.  2. 

X  This  appears  from  Feaurdent.  on  IrenaBUs,iv.  30.  who  is  himself  evident- 
ly determined  by  this  view  having  been  taken  by  Popes.  In  like  way  Jus- 
tinian in  Rom.  iv.  16.  very  learnedly  defends  the  opposite  side,  but  at  the  end 
embraces  the  "  common  opinion  of  Catholics,  which  is  not  readily  to  be  aban- 
doned, although  these  most  weighty  testimonies  of  so  many  Fathers  may  free 
the  other  opinion  from  all  sus[)icion- or  dangerousness."  Some  of  the  less 
obvious  of  the  above  authorities  were  furnished  by  Justinian. 

^  Perhaps  S.  Irenaeus  refers  to  this,  iii.  12.  11.  "  Who  called  Abraham's 
seed  out  of  Egypt,  manifestly  preserved  by  circumcision  (for  He  gave  it  for  a 
sign,  that  they  might  not  be  like  the  Egyptians.")  S.  Augustine  himself  does 
(Ep.  23.  ad  Maximin.  5  4.)  "  This  mystery  also  withheld  the  river  Jordan, 
and  sent  it  back  to  its  source." 

II  It  appears  from  TertuUian  (adv.  Jud.  c.  3.)  that  the  Jews  urged  the  case  of 
Zipporahas  a  proof  of  the  continued  necessity  of  circumcision.  St.  Jerome 
appeals  to  it  in  proof  that  there  was  a  degree  of  temporal  benefit  connected 
with,  though  not  conveyed  by,  circumcision,  proportioned  to  that  dispensa- 
tion, before  our  Lord  came.  "  *  Circumcision  verily  profiteth,  if  thou  keep 
the  law.'    It  was  then  of  use  to  thoss  who  lived  under  the  law,  not  because 


264 

circumcised  her  son,  or  that  death  was  the  penalty  of  its  omission,  and 

so  escaped  by  its  fulfilment  ;*  "  the  uncircumcised,  whose  flesh  of 
his  foreskin  is  not  circumcised,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  his 
people  ;  he  hath  broken  my  covenant."  S.  Basil  had  noticed  the 
correspondence  of  this  heavy  sanction  with  the  words  of  our  Lord 
as  to  Baptism,  its  antitype  :   "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and 

they  we7-e  circumcised,hui  because  '  they  were  entrusted  with  the  oracles  of 
God,'  which,  if  they  turned  into  action,  they  were  not  alien  from  salvation. 
Nor  let  it  disturb  us,  that  Zipporah  takino;  the  stone,  circumcised  her  son,  and 
withheld  the  destroying  angel  from  her  husband  (or  as  this  is  differently  re- 
lated in  the  Hebrew)  because  to  say  that  their  circumcision  was  as  utterly  of 
no  avail  as  the  Apostle  testifieth  it  to  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  from  the  time  that 
the  Gospel  has  shone  through  the  whole  world,  were  a  needless  censure  of 
circumcision.  Like  the  rest  of  the  law,  it  was  of  avail  then,  when  earthly 
blessings  were  promised  to  those  who  kept  the  law,  that,  if  they  fulfilled  it, 
they  should  be  blessed  in  the  city,  blessed  in  the  field,  have  full  stores,  and 
many  like  promises.  But  we  would  be  strong  and  strengthen  in  Christ  Je- 
su.s,  i.  e.  in  the  true  circumcision,  not  in  the  Jewish  concision."  in  Gal.  v,  4. 
St-  Augustine  himself  looks  upon  this  as  a  temporal  deliverance  only,  Ep.  23. 
ad  Maximin.  "  Which  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  was  of  so  much 
avail  then,  before  it  was  emptied  by  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  that  the  angel 
would  have  destroyed  the  infant  son  of  Moses,  had  not  its  mother,  seizing  a 
stone,  circumcised  the  child,  and  by  the  sacrament  removed  the  impending 
destruction."  The  more  common  opinion  among  the  ancients  was,  that  Mo- 
ses himself,  not  his  child,  was  threatened  with  death ;  as  in  S.  Jerome 
(above  ;)  Theodoret,  Qu.  14.  in  Ex.  ;  C^sarius,  Serm.  18.  de  Moyse,  1.  ap. 
Aug.  T.  5.  App.  ;  S.  Cyril  Alex,  in  Joh-  iv.  p.  432  [ex.  err.  424;]  Isidor.  Pe- 
lu3.  Euseb.  Cees.  and  Emess.,  Diodorus,  in  Catena,  quoted  by  Bonfrer.  in 
Pentateuch  ad  loc.  St.  Augustine  himself  (Quaest.  in  Exod.  ii.  11.)  doubts 
whether  it  were  not  Moses  whom  the  angel  so'.ight  to  slay,  but  in  either  case 
assigns  as  the  only  reason  "  the  sanction  of  the  command  of  circumcision, 
through  the  severity  of  the  penalty." 

*  S.  Basil,  Hom,  in  S.  Bapt.  \  2.  "  The  Jew  delays  not  circumcision,  on 
account  of  the  threat,  tliat  '  every  soul  which  shall  not  be  circumcised  on  the 
eighth  day,  shall  be  destroyed  from  its  people,'  and  dost  thou  delay  the 
'  circumcision  made  without  hands  in  the  putting  off  of  the  flesh,'  which  is 
accomplished  in  Baptism,  when  thou  hearest  the  Lord  Himself, '  Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  unless  a  man  be  born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  V  St.  Augustine,  in  applying  this  pas- 
sage (c-  Julian.  Pel.  ii.  6.  \  18.)  says,  "  Seest  thou  how  this  man,  imbued 
with  ecclesiastical  learning,  compared  circumcision  with  circumcison,  threat 
with  threat.  Not  to  be  '  circumcised  on  the  eighth  day,'  answers  to  not 
being  baptized  in  Christ ;  and  to  '  perish  from  his  people,'  to  '  not  entering 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  And  yet  ye  deny  that  in  infant  baptism  there  is 
any  'putting  off  of  the  flesh,'  i.  e.  a  'circumcision  not  made  with  hands,' 
inasmuch  as  ye  contend  that  they  have  nothing  which  needs  to  be  put  off. 
For  we  confess  that  they  are  dead  in  the  foreskin  of  their  flesh,  whereby 
sin  is  signified,  especially  that  which  is  derived  by  our  origin."  (St. 
Augustine,  in  the  same  place,  refers,  as  an  authority,  to  the  Martyr  Cy- 
prian, speaking  of  the  circumcision  in  the  flesh,  as  enjoined  for  a  sign  of  Bap- 
tism." See  above,  p.  259-)  S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Glaph.  in  Gen.  1.  iii,  p. 
80,  apparently  uses  the  same  parallel  as  S.  Basil ;  as  also  does  Gregory,  Mo- 
ralia,  iv.  3. 


265 

the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  Circumci- 
sion then  was  again  a  type  of  Baptism,  in  that  it  was  the  condition, 
— in  the  case  of  Moses'  son,  the  means, — of  escaping  temporal, 
as  Baptism  is  the  appointed  means  of  rescuing  from  eternal,  death. 
S.  Augustine  pressed  the  comparison  further ;  he  urged  what  he 
thought  the  letter  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  contended  (as  his  is  alto- 
gether a  sterner  theology)  that  the  death  threatened  to  the  uncircum- 
cised  male  was  not  temporal, but  eternal;  and  thence  inferred  further, 
that  since  the  "male  child"  (of  whom  he  interpreted  it)  could  not  "have 
broken  the  covenant"  by  any  act  of  his  own,  therefore  the  covenant 
spoken  of  was  that  with  Adam  ;  that  it  was  for  the  covenant  broken 
in  him,  in  other  words,  original  sin,  for  which  the  child  was  sentenced 
to  death ;  and  that  consequently  this  law  proved  original  sin,  and 
that  it  was  remitted  by  means  of  circumcision,  as  well  as  by  Baptism. 
"  What  ill,"  he  asks,*  "  has  the  little  one  committed  of  his  own  will, 
that  for  the  neglect  of  another  who  failed  to  circumcise  him,  himself 
should  be  condemned  by  a  condemnation  so  severe,  that  "  that  soul 
should  perish  from  his  people  V  For  neither  is  it  temporal  death, 
which  is  threatened  thus  terribly,  since  of  the  righteous,  when  they 
die,  it  were  rather  said,  '  and  he  was  gathered  to  his  people,'  or  '  to 
his  fathers,'  inasmuch  as  henceforth  he  hath  no  temptation?  to  fear, 
which  may  separate  him  from  '  his  people,'  if  so  be  his  people  is  the 
people  of  God."  "If,"  he  infers,  "question  be  made  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  this  horrible  punishment,  is  not  all  that  arguing  about  free- 
will, and  the  praiseworthy  purity  and  soundness  of  our  nature,  toss- 
ed back  and  shivered  ?"  This  was  (as  was  said)  no  Catholic  opin- 
ion ;  and  so  it  remains  free  to  us  to  think,  and  is  the  more  Catholic 
view,  that  temporal  death  only  was  threatened  to  the  uncircumcised, 
that  the  type  of  Baptism  saved  from  the  type  of  eternal  death,  as 
real  Baptism  from  the  reality.  His  argument,  moreover,  rests  en- 
tirely on  the  supposition  that  the  death  is  threatened  to  the  uncir- 
cumcised child,  and  not  rather  to  the  adult,!  who,  by  remaining  un- 
circumcised contumaciously,  broke  the  covenant.  For  death  is  de- 
nounced in  the  same  terms,  for  the  breach  of  other  laws,  where  yet 
no  especial  reward  followed  upon  keeping  them.  The  peculiarity 
of  this  case  would  have  arisen  from  its  involving  original  sin.  It  is, 
however,  much  to  be  remarked,  that  although  St.  Augustine  here 
(as  in  some  other  cases)  was  led,  through  the  energy  of  his  mind,  to 
take  up  a  peculiar  and  untenable  argument,  and  to  lay  much  stress 

*  De  pecc.  orig.  c.  Pelag.  c.  30.  add.  c.  Julian.  Pel.  iii.  18. 5  34.  de  nupt.  et 
concup.  ii.  11.  &c. 
f  Our  version  so  far  agrees  with  St.  Augustine  by  rendering  *°)^f,  Gen.xvii. 

14.  "manchild."     It  were  better  throughout  to  render  it  "male,"  ver.  10.  12. 
14  ;  and  in  v.  12.  the  addition  "  he  hath  broken  my  covenant,"  applies  more 


266 

upon  it,*  he  still  keeps  to  Catholic  truth  in  the  main ;  and  even 
when  urging  the  benefits  of  circumcision,  is  very  far  from  identify- 
ing it  with  Baptism.  It  is  very  observable  how,  not  only  else- 
where, but  in  the  very  places  in  which  he  is  urging  its  efficacy  thus 
far,  he  still  calls  it  but  the  "  signf  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ,"  says, 
"  that  it,  among  the  other  sacraments"  [mysterious  and  significant 
acts]  "  of  the  ancients,  prophesied  of  Christ,"^  that  "  it^  so  availed 
to  signify  the  cleansing  of  the  original  and  primeval  sin  in  infants 
also,  as  Baptism  to  the  renewal  of  the  man  ;"  that  it  "  prefiguredl 
our  Baptism,"  or  "the  regeneration  in  Christ,"T[  and  "His  grace,"*'' 
and  "  His  resurrection,"tt"  the  renewal  of  our  nature,  by  the  putting 
off  of  the  old,"|t  "the  putting  off  of  the  flesh,"^^  "the  putting  off  of  the 
carnal  life  through  the  resurrection  of  Christ  "|1||  "  the  putting  off  of 
the  mortality  which  we  have  from  our  birth  after  the  flesh,"in[  "that 
through  Christ,  the  Author  of  regeneration,  original  sin  was  taken 
away,"***  "our  justification, iff  to  the  putting  off  of  carnal  concupi- 
scences through  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord,"  "  the  putting  off  car- 
nal desires  from  the  heart, "J||  "  the  future  circumcision§^§  of  the 
heart  which  the  Jews  bore  in  the  flesh,  in  the  heart  rejected  ;"  "  that 
it  was  a  sacramental  symbol  of  the  circumcisionlHH  of  the  heart,  as 
the  temple  of  Jerusalem  was  of  the  Body  of  the  Lord,  the  land  of 
promise,  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  many  sacrifices  of  the  One 
Sacrifice."  He  contrasts  it  elsewhere,  as  "  a  shadow,"^  "  an  empty 
shadow,"^  with  the  reality;  "  the  sign,"'  with  the  "thing  signified  ;" 
as  a  thing  "  imposed'  upon  men,  when  slaves,  understood  by  them 
when  set  free,"  says  that  "it  was  changed  for  what  was  better  ;"1[1[1[ 

naturally  to  the  adult.  St.  Augustine  himself  felt  that  it  was  an  unusual  ex- 
pression as  to  a  child  which  "  knew  neither  good  nor  evil." 

*  "  There  is  no  need  to  go  along  way  about  to  try  to  prove  to  me  what  I 
grant ;  but  answ«r  this,  if  thou  canst,  Why,  unless  Isaac  himself  had  been  cir- 
cumcised on  the  eighth  day  with  the  sign  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  his  soul 
would  have  perished  from  his  people.  Go  not  off  amid  a  number  of  obscure, 
perplexed,  superflous  points  ;  answer  this  one,  clear,  simple,  and  essential." 
— c.  Julian., Pel.  iii.  18.  \  34. 

f  c.  Julian.  Pel.  1.  c.  JDe  pecc.  orig.  c.  31. 

}  De  nupt.  et  concup.  ii.  11. 

II  De  anima  et  ej.  orig.  ii.  11.  c.  Cresc.  Donat.  i.  31. 

^  Op.  Imp.  c.  Julian,  i.  50.  de  Civ.  Dei,  xvi.  27. 

**  Op,  Imp.  G.  Julian,  ii.  151. 

ft  Op.  Imp.  c.  Jul.  iv.  134.  c.  Faust,  xix.  9.  Ep.  157.  ad  Hilar.  }  14. 

\\  De  Civ.  Dei  xvi.  26.  ^^  c.  Faust,  xxv.  tin. 

Ijj  Serm.  231.  in  dieb.  Pasch.  2.  }  3. 

irir  c.  Faust,  xvi.  29.  ***  Op.  Imp.  c.  Jul.  ii.  73. 

ttt  c.  litt.  Petil.  ii.  87.  \\\  Tr.  30.  in  Ev.  Joh.  \  5. 

\\\  Serm.  149,  de  verb.  Act.  10.  &c.  c.  3. 

Illjjl  In  Ps.  74.  \  12.  Circumcisio  carnis  magni  sacramenti  vis  est,  et  tntelli- 
gitur  inde  circumcisio  cordis.  Templum  illud  Jerusalem  magni  sacramenti 
res  est,  et  intelligitur  ex  eo  corpus  Domini. 

'  c.  Adimant.  c.  16.  \  2.  3.  c.  Faust,  vi.  2.  Serm.  169.  de  verb.  Ap.  Phil.  3. 
TniTI  c.  Faust,  xix.  9.  Ep.  23.  ad  Maximin.  }  4. 


267 

that  "  were  he  a  Jew  in  the  times  of  the  ancient  people,  he  would 
receive  circumcision,  since  he  could  have  nothing  belter  ;"*  that 
"  it  was  abolished  by  our  Lord's  first  coming,  as  Baptism  shall  be  by 
His  second,"  (Baptism  being  also  a  type  of  the  future  resurrection  ;) 
that  it  was  a  sign  of  the  same  sort  as  the  cross  in  our  foreheads  ;t 
that  it  "belonged  to  aso7'tt  of  seal  of  deliverance." 

This  is  not  the  way  in  which  St.  Augustine  speaks  of  our  Chris- 
tian Baptism,  however  it  may  accord  with  much  modern  language 
respecting  it.  St.  Augustine,  speaking  of  it,  does  not  linger  among 
the  shadows  of  the  Old  Testament,  nor  speak  of  his  Baptism,  as  be- 
ing a  sign,  or  figure,  or  shadow,  but  the  blessed  substance,  and  real- 
ity, and  truth,  foresignified  in  the  shadows  of  the  law.  Baptism  he 
calls,  not  "  a  sort  of  seal  of  deliverance,"  but  "  deliverance,  salva- 
tion"^ itself.  "  God  forbid,"  says  he,||  "  that  I  should  term  the  grace 
of  that  laver  empty,  wherein  I  was  re-born  of  '  water  and  the  Spirit,' 
whereby  I  was  freed  from  the  guilt  of  all  sins,  which  I  brought  with 
me  by  my  birth,  or  on  me  by  ill  life  ;  whereby  I  am  freed  so  as  to 
know  not  to  '  enter  into  temptation,'  drawn  away  and  enticed  by  my 
own  concupiscence,  and  so  as  to  be  heard,  when  saying  with  all  who 
share  it,  'forgive  us  our  debts  ;'  whereby  I  shall  be  freed,  as  I  hope, 
for  ever,  when  no  law  in  my  members  shall  resist  the  law  of  my 
mind  :" — wherein,  he  says,  we  have  a  perfect  cleansing,^!  such  as 
John's  Baptism  had  not,  "  are  cleansed"**  every  "  whit ;"  our  "  lit- 
tle ones  are  renewed  by  the  grace  of  Christ  ;"tt  "  all  the  weight  of 
ancient  sin  laid  aside,  the  former  offences  of  the  ancient  ignorance 
effaced,  and  the  old  man  with  the  inborn  guilt  put  oif,"tt  wherein 
also,  he  doubted  not,  our  "  little  ones  were  not  only  engrafted  into 
His  Body,"  but  "  the  most  hidden  grace  of  the  Spirit,"  was  "  se- 
cretly poured  into  them  ;"^^  whereby  "  they  who  receive  it 
rightly,  are  washed  both  in  flesh  and  Spirit  ;"||||  and  our  very 
"evil  desireSjIFH  so  long  as  they  be  not  consented  to,  even  though 
they  remain,  are  still  all  "cleansed."  He  does  not  so  speak  of 
that  gift,  whereby  he  says  we  are  "  re-born  in  Christ,"  "made  mem- 
bers of  Christ ;"  "  If  ye  would  think  what  ye  have  been  made,  all 
your  bones  will  say,  *  Lord,  who  is  like  unto  thee  V  For  that  con- 
descension of  God  cannot  be  adequately  conceived,  and  all  human 
language  and  understanding  fails."*** 

*  Ep.  ad  Max.  1.  c.  f  Serm.  160.  de  verb.  Ap.  1  Cor.  xi.  }  4. 

X  Signaculum  aliquod  salutis.     Tr.  30.  in  Ev.  Job.  \  4. 

$  See  above  p.  74. 

II  c.  Julian.  Pelag.  vi.  44.  1"  Ep.  44.  ad  Eleus.  &c.  $  10. 

•*  Tract.  56  and  57,  in  Ev.  Job. 

ft  Op.  Imp.  c.  Julian,  i.  55. 

jJReticius,  Bishop  of  Augustodunutti,  alleged  by  S.  Aug.  lb. 

4^  De  pecc.  mer.  et  rem.  i.  \  10. 

llll  Quaest.  in  Numer.  iv.  35.  {  11. 

il"^  De  pecc.  orig.  }  44. 

***  Serm.  224.  in  die  Pasch.  i.  init. 


268 

All  this  language  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  his  well-known  dis- 
tinction, that  •'  neither*  the  sacraments,  nor  the  promises  of  the  two 
Testaments  are  the  same  ;  for  that  the  sacraments  of  the  New-Tes- 
tament give  salvation  ;  the  sacraments  of  the  Old  promise  the  Sa- 
viour," or  when  he  says  (especially  including  circumcision)  that  "thef 
ancient  sacraments  were  neither  good,  in  that  men  are  not  justified 
by  them ;  for  they  are  shadows,  for eannouncing  the  grace  xoherehy 
we  are  justified, — nor  yet  bad,  because  enjoined  by  God,  and  con- 
formable to  the  time  and  persons  ;"  and  that  they  were  to  be  ob- 
served at  first  by  Jews  who  believed,  "  to  sett  forth  their  Divine  ori- 
gin and  prophetic  sanctity,  not  from  those  sacraments  to  obtain  salva- 
tion, which  was  now  being  revealed  in  Christ,  and  ministered  through 
the  sacrament  of  Baptism."  It  is  not  incidentally,  but  of  set  pur- 
pose, that  he  every  where  so  carefully  uses  the  words,  "  signs," 
"  signify,"  "  prefigured,"  "foreshadowed;"  and  in  his  strongest  pas- 
sage attributes  to  circumcision  the  office  of  "  signifying^^^  only 
"  the  cleansing  of  original  sin,"  to  "Baptism,  the  renewal  of  the  man." 
However  he  may  have  been  led  to  ascribe  more  to  circumcision  than 
Scripture  warrants,  he  yet  neither  exalts  the  shadow  into  the  sub- 
stance, nor  contracts  the  substance,  vouchsafed  to  us,  once  more 
into  its  shadow. 

Of  the  relation  of  circumcision  to  Baptism,  then,  St.  Augustine 
thinks  no  otherwise  than  any  other  father  ;  he  looks,  ||  indeed,  upon 
the  history  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  whose  faith  was  accepted  re- 
spectively in  uncircumcision,  and  in  circumcision,  as  analogous  to 
the  cases  of  Cornelius,  "  in  whom  spiritual  sanctification  preceded 
in  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  there  followed  the  sacrament  of 
regeneration  in  the  laver  of  Baptism,"  and  of  our  "  baptized  infants," 
in  whom  "  the  sacrament  of  regeneration  precedes  ;  and  if  they  hold 
fast  Christian  piety,  there  will  follow  also  that  conversion*^  in  the 
heart,  whereof  the  sacrament  preceded  in  the  body  ;"  but  he  does 
not  herein  ascribe  any  efficacy  to  circumcision,  nor  derogate  from 
that  of  Baptism  ;  he  uses  it  simply  as  an  illustration,  as  a  "private 
conjecture;"**  nor  again  does  he  identify  the  giant  faith  of  Abraham, 
nor  Isaac's  holy  "  imitation  of  his  father's  faith,"  with  the  case  of 

*  In  Ps.  73. 5  2.  t  Ep.  82.  (ol.  19.)  ad  Hieron.  5  14. 

t  lb.  5  9.  5  De  nupt.  et  concup.  ii.  11.  seep.  335,  6. 

II  De  Bapt.  c.  Don.  v.  24. 

"![  On  this  passage  of  St.  Augustine  see  further  c.  7.  below. 

**  "  Veraciter  conjicere  possumus  ;"  his  own  explanation  of  the  benefits  of 
infant-baptism  he  gives  as  a  conjecture,  in  contrast  to  the  fact,  that  they  do 
derive  some  benefit,  which,  as  being  "  held  in  the  urfversal  Church,"  he  re- 
gards as  of  divine  authority.  "  And  if  any  seek  for  divine  authority  in  this 
matter,  although  what  the  universal  Church  holds,  not  having  been  instituted 
by  Councils,  but  having  ever  been  retained,  is  most  rightly  believed  to  have 
been  delivered  down  by  no  other  than  apostolical  authority,  yet  we  may  with 
truth  conjecture."  &c. 


269 

any  ordinary  Jew.     The  holy  patriarchs  form  a  distinct  head  in  the 
history  of  man. 

Circumcision,  however  weak  and  unprofitable  in  itself,  signifying 
what  it  could  not  realize^  was  yet  the  shadow  of  great  things.  "  It 
typified*  and  preached  beforehand  the  grace  and  power  of  Baptism. 
For  as  he  who  was  circumcised  was  through  that  seal  accounted 
among  the  people  of  God,  so  he  who  is  baptized,  haA'ing  the  seal  of 
Christ  formed  in  him,  is  enrolled  in  the  adoption  of  the  sons  of  God." 
*'  It  was  a  symbol  also  of  the  faithful,  placed  in  the  grace  of  the  Gos- 
pel, who,  through  the  sharp  word  of  faith  and  by  ascetic  exercises, 
cut  off  and  kill  the  uprisings  of  fleshly  pleasures  and  passions,  not 
cutting  ihe  body  but  the  heart,  and  being  circumcised  in  spirit,  not 
in  letter."  It  cherished  the  expectation  of  the  things  hereafter  to  be 
revealed,  which  it  could  not  bestow  :  what  it  could  not  do,  "  being 
weak  through  the  flesh,"  it  foretold  of.  "  What  else  does  circum- 
cision signify,"  says  St.  Augustine, f  "  than  nature  renewed, — its 
old  decay  put  off"?  And  what  else  doth  that  eighth  day  than  Christ, 
who  rose  again  when  the  seven  were  completed,  i.  e.  on  the  day 
after  the  Sabbath  ?  The  names  of  the  parents  [Abraham  and  Sa- 
rah] also  are  changed  ;  every  thing  speaks  of  '  renewal ;'  and  in 
the  Old  Testament  is  shadowed  out  the  New.  For  what 
else  is  the  Old  Testament  called  than  the  veiling  of  the  New  ? 
What  the  New  than  the  revealing  of  the  Old  ?"  And  were 
these  shadows,  and  signs,  and  expectations,  and  longing  voices  of 
the  Old  Testament  never  to  have  their  fulfilment?  Is  Bap- 
tism still  to  be  a  mere  type,  because  circumcision  was  ?  Has  it  no 
power  communicated  "  througii  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,":j: 
which  the  eighth  day  shadowed  forth  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  our  name 
is  changed,  and  that  we  now  bear  that  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  Is  our  ad  op 
tion  still  only  to  be  a  temporal  people  of  God?  Or  has  not  rather 
the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  united  heaven  with  earth,  filled 
earthly  symbols  with  spiritual  Life,  which  is  Himself,  converted  the 
letter  into  the  Spirit,  and  exchanged  the  types  for  the  Truth  ?  Cir- 
cumcision, then,  surely  held  out  that  the  heart  should  one  day  be 
circumcised  for  God's  people;  and  as  the  Jewish  little  one  received 
the  symbol,  so  may  we  trust  that  we  and  our  children  received  the 
reality,  if  we  and  they  but  hold  on  "  according  to  that  beginning," 
and  become  not  again  "  uncircumcised." 

Levitical  Washings. 

As  the  prominence  of  circumcision,  the  indispensable  means  of 
admission  into  the  chosen  people,  set  forth  the  greatness  of  Baptism, 
so  did  the  frequency  of  the  Levitical  Baptisms.     Ever  renewed,  on 

*  Photius,  Ep.  ccv.  p.  302.  quoted  by  Suicer,  v.  ircptroii^. 
t  De  Civ.  Dei,  xvi.  26.  \  1  Pet.  iii.  21. 


97» 

account  of  their  inadequacy,  they,  by  their  very  continual  repetition, 
created  the  longing  for  that  great  cleansing  which  was  to  be  here- 
after, the  need  whereof  they  so  feelingly  inculcated.  The  typical 
character  of  their  "  divers  washings  or  baptisms,"*  as  well  as  their 
insufficiency,  is  authenticated  by  St.  Paiil ;  the  very  name  under 
which  he  comprehends  them,  ("baptisms,")  guides  us  the  rather  to 
the  one  act  of  cleansing,  wherein  the  Blood  of  Christ  is  applied  to 
wash  away  sins.  They  were  of  divers  kinds;  and,  beyond  the  one 
general  notion  of  cleansing,  in  order  to  fit  men  to  appear  in  the  pre- 
sence of  God,  they  had  their  subordinate  meanings.  The  brazen 
laver  itself  was  a  type  of  Baptism.f  Placed  by  God  "  between  the 
altar  and  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation, "t  it  stood,  as  it  were,  a 
baptistery,  without  which  the  atoning  blood  did  not  avail  for  man  to 
approach  to  God,  "  that  they  die  not."  Before  Aaron  and  his  sons- 
might  enter  the  tabernacle,  (the  emblem  of  the  Church,)  ihey  must 
"  wash  with  water."^  The  priestly  character||  of  the  Christian 
Church,  as  a  whole,  may  be  betokened,  in  that  this  laver  was  espe- 
cially appointed  for  Aaron  and  his  sons.  Further,  in  the  cleansing 
of  the  leper  (to  the  minute  account  of  which  St.  Paul's  words 
would  naturallylF  direct)  there  is  the  remarkable  connection  of  the 
"blood"  and  the  "  living  water ;"  again  pointing  to  the  source 
whence  Baptism  derives  its  efficacy  to  cleanse  our  "  leprous  huma- 
nity,"** the  loathsome,  and  by  man  incurable,  leprosy  of  sin.  "As," 
says  Theodoret,tt  "  the  blood  of  the  slain  bird  was  mingled  with 
pure  water  through  cedar  wood  and  hyssop;  and  the  leper,  sprinkled 
therewith,  was  declared  pure  and  clean,  so  also  doth  he  who  believ- 
eth  in  Christ  the  Saviour,  and  is  cleansed  with  the  water  of  all-holy 
Baptism,  lay  aside  the  spots  of  sin. — Wherefore  those  who  are  bap- 
tized, are  by  these  freed  from  the  leprosy  of  the  soul."  Again, J:{: 
'*  The  type  corresponds  with  the  shaJdow,  the  truth  with  the  aub- 

♦•  Heb.  ix.  10.  f  Cyril,  J^rus.  Lect.  iii.  6, 

X  Ex.  XXX.  18 ;  xl.  7.  {  lb.  xxx.  20,  21. 

I "  The  high-priest  first  bathes,  and  then  burns  incense  ;  for  Aaron  first 
bathed,  and  then  was  made  high-priest ;  for  how  might  he  intercede  for  the 
rest,  who  had  not  yet  been  cleansed  by  water  1" — Cyril,  Jerus.  1.  c.  and  S. 
Cyril,  Alex,  on  the  consecration  of  the  Levites  ;  "  The  old  law  figured  this 
cleansing  by  shadows,  and  foreannounced  the  grace  through  holy  Baptism 
(quoting  Num.  vii.,)  and  what  this  water  of  purifying  is,  the  most  wise  Paul 
teacheth;  If  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer,  sprink- 
ling the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more  the 
Blood  of  Christ!  Wherefore  the  laver  effected  a  cleansing  of  the  flesh 
through  the  water  of  purification  ;  but  Christ  through  Baptism  melts  away  all 
the  defilements  of  our  soul."— ^  In  Is.  li.  i.  Or.  i.  p.  17. 

II  1  Pet.  ii.  5.  9. 

•|f  Lev.  xiv.    Theodoret  (on  Heb.  ix.)  especially  refers  to  this  and  c.  xv. 

*•  Theodoret,  Qu.  xix.  in  Levit.  ft  !•  c« 

tt  On  Heb.  ix. 


871 

stance.  For  the  water  was  the  type  of  Baptism  ;  the  Blood  of  ani- 
mals, of  the  saving  Blood  ; — the  ashes  of  the  heifer,  of  the  Passion 
of  the  Manhood."  And  St.  Chrysostome,  on  Heb.  ix,*  where  the 
same  instruments  of  the  typical  purification  are  mentioned.  "  Was 
not  that  Blood,  and  the  rest,  a  sort  of  type,  sketched  long  before, 
of  the  Precious  Blood  ? — And  what  is  the  water  ?  It  also  marketh 
the  cleansing  by  water — he  showeth  here  that  the  water  and  the 
Blood  are  the  same.  For  Baptism  is  the  symbol  of  the  Passion 
itself. ^^  "  Consider  here  again,"  says  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,! 
"  the  whole  mystery  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  purification  by  Holy 
Baptism.  The  participation  of  the  very  mystic  Eucharist  contains 
in  it  the  announcement  of  the  Death  and  Resurrection  of  Christ 
Himself.  Which  having  first  induced  believers  to  confess,  we 
bring  them  lo  Holy  Baptism,  and  consecrate  them  in  the  Blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant."  "  The  laver  again  shows  that  the  Jew- 
ish synagogue"  [represented  by  the  leprous  house]  "  could  not  be 
otherwise  cleansed  from  the  defilement  of  disobedience,  and  lay 
aside  the  stains  of  their  varied  offences,  except  only  through  the 
blessing  from  Christ,  and  confession  and  faith  in  Him,  perfected  and 
sanctified  through  Holy  Baptism.  For  observe  how,  by  what  is 
said,  Christ  is  wholly  depicted  to  us,  and  faith  in  Him,  and  confes- 
sion of  Him  signified.  For  by  the  *  living  bird,'  you  may  under- 
stand the  ever-living,  and  life-giving,  and  heavenly  Word ;  by  the 
*  slain,'  the  Precious  Blood  of  the  Temple  of  His  Body  which  suffer- 
ed,— and  by  the  '  incorruptible  wood,'  His  incorruptible  Humanity  ; 
by  the  '  hyssop,'  the  Spirit ;  by  the  *  scarlet,'  the  confession  of  the 
Blood  of  the  New  Testament ;  by  the  '  living  water,'  the  life-giving 
grace  of  Baptism,  which,  in  the  very  Passion,  the  side  of  our  Sa- 
viour excellently  indicated,  sending  forth  together  blood  and  water  ; 
wherewith,  he  says,  the  house  must  be  sprinkled,  that  it  may  be  puri-- 
fied,  according  to  that  '  I  will  pour  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye 

*  Horn.  16.  }  2.  The  parallel  with  our  baptism  is  pursued  at  length  by  St. 
Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Glaph.  in  Lev.  L.  1.  p.  356,  7.  •'Observe  how  the  leper 
is  brought  to  the  priest,  when  come  '  without  the  gate,'  and  aloof  from  the  camp 
For  Ciirist  having  our  likeness,  visited  us,  outcasts  as  it  were,  and  abiding 
without  the  holy  and  Sacred  city.  And  having  looked  upon  us,  he  made  us 
clean  through  floly  Baptism  and  His  Body.  For  He  was  sacrificed  for  us. 
The  hyssop  may  be  a  type  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  fervent  in  His  operation — for 
of  such  nature  is  hyssop — wherefore  this  sort  of  herb  is  fitly  employed  with 
the  living  water  ;  for  we  are  '  baptized  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  fire,'  as  is  writ- 
ten.— The  leper  having  been  sprinkled  seven  times,  was  then  freed  from  all 
charge  of  leprosy.  And  Christ  also  makes  us  clean,  sanctifying  us  through 
Holy  Baptism.  For  this  I  think  is  meant  by  the  '  seven  times.'  And  so  the 
blessed  Paul,  '  where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound.'  Wherefore 
the  largeness  of  the  grace,  and,  so  to  sayi  its  perfectness  in  cleansing,  is  sig- 
miied  by  the  'seven  times.'  " 

1 1.  c.  p.  358—68^ 


272 

shall  be  cleansed.'"  St.  Augustine  adds  another  purification,* 
"Whoso  is  rightly  washed  by  the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  which 
vas  figured  by  that  water  sprinkled,  is  cleansed  both  spiritually,  i.e. 
invisibly,  both  in  flesh  and  soul,  that  he  may  be  clean  both  in  body 
and  spirit."  "  The  Jews,"  says  St.  Ambrose,!  "had  many  baptisms, 
some  superfluous,!  some  as  a  figure.  And  the  figure  itself  profiteth 
us,  because  it  is  the  herald  of  the  truth." 

As  then  circumcision  pointed  out  the  cutting  ofl*  of  sin  itself,  and 
the  impeding  of  its  subsequent  growth,  so  did  these  many  washings, 
the  cleansing  of  its  guilt  and  stains  ;  and  in  that  they  were  thus  in- 
corporated with  the  life  of  the  Hebrew,^  they  served  the  more  to 
fix  his  mind  on  that  grace  which  was  to  come,  and  which  God  the 
more  blended  with  these  heralds  of  it,  in  that  when  it  came,  He  made 
water  the  vehicle  of  it,  as  before  its  symbol. 

Further  Types  implied  hy  Analogy  with  those  which  Holy  Scrip- 
ture authenticates,  and  guar a?iteed  to  us  by  the  ancient  Church. 

Such  are  the  types  of  the  Old  Testament  positively  authenticated 
in  the  New  :  the  flood ;  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea ;  circumcision  ; 
the  Levitical  washings.  It  were,  however,  an  arbitrary  and  un- 
philosophical  proceeding  to  stop  short  here,  and  to  refuse  to  see  any 
other  types  of  Baptism,  because  Scripture  compels  us  to  acknowledge 
no  more  ;  it  is  a  cold,  stifl",  and  lifeless  system,  so  to  bind  ourselves 
to  take  the  letter  of  Holy  Scripture,  as  to  refuse  to  stir  hand  or  foot, 
even  when  that  Scripture  seems  to  beckon  and  invite  us,  and  to  point 
the  way.  If  these  histories  were  prophetic,  and  (as,  from  the  analo- 
gy of  other  Scripture,  is  probable,  minutely  prophetic,  it  is  certain 
beforehand  that  others  were  so  too  ;  God,  who  made  the  end  answer 
to  the  beginning,  and  the  beginning  a  harbinger  of  the  end,  in  the 
one  case,  did  not  surely  leave  "  Himself  without  witness"  in  others  : 
He,  doubtless,  sowed  seeds  of  futurity  every  where,  if  we  but  dili- 
gently collect  them.  If  the  waters  of  the  flood  reflected  His  image, 
and  the  dove  was  a  herald  of  His  purpose  of  mercy,  would  the  Pre- 
sence of  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself,  condescending  to  brood  over  the 

*  Qu.  33.  in  Num.  5 11.  add  c.  Adv.  leg.  et  proph.  ii.  6.  fin. 

f  De  Sacram.  ii.  1.  fin.  see  also  above,  p.  148,  sqq.  and  add,  on  the  same  type, 
S.  Greg.  Naz.  Oral.  40.  in  S.  Bapt.  5  10.  "  Be  we  baptized,  that  we  may  con- 
quer ;  partake  we  of  the  cleansing  waters,  more  purifying  than  hyssop,  purer 
than  the  blood  of  the  bird,  holier  than  the  ashes  of  the  heifer  sprinkling  the 
unclean,  and  bringing  a  temporary  cleansing  of  the  body,  not  a  complete  remo- 
val of  sin." 

X  Those  spoken  of  Mark  vii.  8. 

{  "The  daily  sprinklings  of  the  Hebrews,  which  were  about  to  be  hidden,  a 
little  after,  by  the  perfect  and  wondrous  Baptism." — Greg.  Nyss.  in  Bapt. 
Christi,  T.  3.  p.  375. 


273 

shapeless  mass  of  waters,  and  thence  to  produce  order  and  life,  have 
nothing  significant?  Or,  since  the  passage  of  1  he  Red  Sea  figured 
our  Baptism,  why  should  we  restrain  that  of  the  Jordan,  which  trans- 
mitted the  people  of  Israel  from  the  wilderness  into  the  promised 
land,  still,  indeed,  with  fresh  enemies  to  subdue,  yet  guided  by  Je- 
sus, the  Conqueror  ?*  The  land  of  Canaan  was  a  rest  from  the 
fruitless,  hopeless  toils  and  wanderings  up  and  down  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  and  the  Church  is  a  rest  from  the  rewardless,  unprofitable 
struggles  of  the  world  ;  both  are  comparatively  a  rest ;  although  the 
rest,  which  both  in  their  degrees  foreshadow,  is  yet  future,  laid  up 
'*  for  the  people  of  God."t  Or  since  by  our  Lord's  Baptism  in  Jor- 
dan, *'  water  was  sanctified  to  the  mystical  washing  away  of  sin,"  is 
there  nothing  remarkable  that  the  Jordan  should  have  been  connect- 
ed with  so  many  miracles,  and  men's  minds  fixed  upon  it  before- 
hand, and  ''the  way  prepared," as  it  were,  for  that  sacred  Presence, 
and  the  water  received  a  sort  of  preliminary  honor  and  distinction,  by 
being  subjected  to  the  Divine  workings  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  the  leprous 
Naaman  was  cleansed  in  Jordan,  "both|  by  the  use  of  water  gene- 
rally, and  by  the  Baptism  in  that  river  specially,  evidently  foresigni- 
fying  what  was  to  be  ?  For  Jordan  alone,  of  all  rivers,  having  re- 
ceived in  itself  the  first  fruits  of  sanctification,  and  of  blessing"  [in 
the  Baptism  of  our  Lord,]  "  became  the  channel,  as  it  were,  to  con- 
vey, in  figure,  from  the  fountain,  the  grace  of  Baptism  to  the  whole 
world,"  Or  does  it  contain  no  instructive  warning  against  any  self- 
willed  choice  of  the  "  Abanas  and  Pharpars"  of  people's  own  Damas- 
cus V  Further,  it  is  remarkable  surely,  that  the  Jordan  was  again 
divided  before  Elijah's  ascent  into  heaven,  when  the  miracle  was 
wrought,  not,  as  before,  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  to  strengthen  the 
hearts  of  a  whole  people,  at  the  commencement  of  their  warfare, 
and  to  strike  terror  into  their  enemies  ;  but  in  the  presence  only  of 
*the  prophet's  solitary  successor,  and  "  the  fifty  men  of  the  sons  of 
the  prophets."^  The  mysteriousness  of  that  ascent  (typical,  as  it  also 
is,  of  the  ascent  of  our  Lord ;  and  the  "  two-fold  portion  of  His  Spi- 

*  See  below,  Addenda. 

t  "  The  Hebrew  people  having  (as  we  have  been  taught)  undergone  much, 
and  accomplished  the  toilsome  wanderings  in  the  wilderness,  did  not  attain 
the  land  of  promise,  before,  Jesus  guiding  them,  and  ordering  their  life,  they 
were  conveyed  over  Jordan.  And  it  is  plain  that  Jesus,  depositing  the  twelve 
stones  in  the  stream,  ordered  the  twelve  disciples  the  ministers  of  Baptism." 
— S.  Greg.  Nyss.  1.  c.  p-  .375^  6.  "  When  he  [Joshua]  began  his  government 
of  the  people,  he  began  at  Jordan ;  whence  Christ  also,  after  Baptism,  began 
His  Gospel." — S.  Cyril,  Lect.  x.  11.     See  also  Coptic  Liturgy,  below,  p.  288. 

J  S.  Greg.  Nyss.  in  Bapt.  Christi,  torn.  iii.  376,7. — "  Having  been  cleans- 
ed he  forthwith  understood  that  the  cleansing  of  any  is  not  of  the  water  but  of 
grace."  Ambr.  de  Myst.  c.  3.  \  17.  add  de  Sacr.  1.  c.  5.  S.  August.  Serra. 
vol.  V.  1154.     S.  Chrysostom  (below,)  and  Coptic  Liturgy,  (below,  p.  288.) 

\  2  Kings  ii.  9. 

9* 


274 

rit,"*  which  descended  upon  Elisha,  of  His  "  gifts,"t  which,  after 
His  Ascension,  "  He  gave  unto  men,")  surely  gives  a  corresponding 
impressiveness  to  the  miracle  of  the  Jordan,  as  that  miracle  illus- 
trates His  ascent.  "  Elias|  is  received  up,  but  not  without  water  ; 
for  first  he  crosses  Jordan,  then  horses  carry  Him  to  heaven." 
"  And§  wilt  not  thou,  who  art,  not  with  chariots  of  fire,  but  by  '  wa- 
ter and  the  Spirit,'  to  mount  up  unto  heaven,  hasten  at  thy  call  ?" 
Lastly,  combined  with  these  miracles,  it  will  surely  appear  to  be 
significant,  that  the  substance,  of  itself  heavy  and  motionless,  the 
iron  axe,  which  sunk,  and  lay  at  the  bottom,  was,  in  the  Jordan,  rais- 
ed to  the  surface,  touched  by  the  rod  of  the  prophet-tl  It  would  be 
said,  on  modern  principles,  that  these  miracles  must  have  taken 
place  somewhere  ;  that  the  Jordan  was  the  chief  river  of  Canaan  ; 
that  they  would  be  more  likely  to  have  happened  there  than  else- 
where ;  and  the  like :  but  one  may  surely  dwell  on  the  fact,  that  the 
Jordan  alone  is  named  ;  that  "  that  ancient  river,  the  river  Kishon," 
might  have  been  the  scene  of  some  of  them,  as  well  as  the  Jordan ; 
and  though  the  general  meaning  would  have  been  the  same  in  that 
case  too,  yet  surely  there  is  some  distinct  intimation  intended,  in 
that  God's  Providence  concentrated  these  miracles  about  the  Jor- 
dan, and  that  His  Holy  Spirit  caused  it  to  be  recorded  that  they  took 
place  there.  In  tracing,  reverentially,  the  ways  of  Providence,  it  is 
our  very  privilege  not  to  be  held  down  to  the  subordinate  means 
which  he  employed  ;  we  have  to  do  with  the  results,  not  with  the 
apparent  slightness  or  greatness,  the  obviousness  or  the  remoteness^ 
of  the  means,  whereby  they  were  brought  about.  He  willed  that 
His  people  should  enter  the  promised  land  through  the  Jordan, 
though  not  the  obvious  way;  or  He  raised  the  axe's  head,  though 
(as  people  would  now  often  speak)  it  "chanced"  that  it  was  by  the 
Jordan  that  the  sons  of  the  prophets  had,  by  Ehsha's  permission, 
gone  to  make  them  a  dwelling.  The  "  common  sense  view,  that 
such  things  were  "  by  chance"  so  and  so,  is  a  naked  Epicureism  ; 

*  2  Kings  ii.  9. 

t  Eph.  iv.  8. 

t  Cyril  Jer.  Cat.  iit,  5.  add.  xiv.  25. 

§  S.  Basil  in  S.  Bapt.  5  3.  T.  2.  p.  115.  In  like  way  St.  Ambrose,  (de  Elia 
et  jejunio,  fin.)  "  Lastly  Elijah  was  home  to  heaYen-  It  again  closed,"  [hav- 
ing already  been  closed  and  opened  by  his  prayer,  Jam.  v.  17,  18.1  "  ^^  ^1*** 
Elijah  opened  it,  who  was  carried  up  in  a  chariot  of  ftre.  And  ye  also  may 
ascend  if  ye  obtain  the  grace  of  the  Sacrament."  In  reference  to  the  same 
type,  "  a  chariot  to  heaven"  is  one  of  the  titles  of  Baptism  in  S.  Basil,  p.  117. 
S.  Gregory  Naz.  Orat.  de  Bapt.  init.  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  Procat.  }  16.  St.  Am- 
brose again,  on  the  same  type,  Exp.  Ev.  sec.  Luc.  i.  37.  "  That  flowing  back 
of  the  river-waters  to  the  source,  when  the  stream  was  divided  by  Elias,  (as 
Scripture  says  '  Jordan  was  driven  back,')  signifies  the  future  mysteries  of  the 
saving  laver,  whereby  the  little  ones,  who  are  baptized,  are  reformed  from 
their  evil  state  to  the  original  of  theii  nature." 

il  2  Kings  vi.  1—6. 


275 

enough  for  us  that  they  were  so  ;  and  if  so,  were  designed  to  be  so, 
i.  e.  they  had  a  meaning.  Separately,  each  may  have  had  other 
meanings  and  objects  ;  and  while  these  were  severally  subserved, 
yet  may  all  have  been  tending  to  the  one  further  end,  to  illustrate 
the  place  where  our  Lord  deigned  to  be  baptized  for  us.  And,  as  if  to 
withdraw  our  minds  from  notions  of  "  chance,"  other  circumstances 
are  blended  therewith,  plainly  arbitrary,  and  so  chosen,  we  must  the 
more  suppose,  for  some  end.  Thus  it  was  in  itself  altogether  arbi- 
trary, that,  in  the  raising  of  the  iron  axe  (as  in  the  miracles  of  Mo- 
ses) wood  was  the  means  employed  ;  it  might  have  been  raised  as 
well  by  the  prophet's  word ;  and  this  very  arbitrariness  (combined 
with  other  instances  of  the  like  selection*)  the  rather  authorizes  or 
compels  us  to  think  that  there  was  reference  herein  to  the  mystery 
of  the  Cross  ;  that  it  is  from  the  Cross  that  Baptism  obtains  its 
efficacy.  "  Elisha,"  remarks  St.  Ambrose,!  "  invoked  the  Name 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  iron  of  the  axe,  which  was  sunk,  arose  from  the 
w^ater.  Behold  another  kind  of  Baptism.  Why?  Because,  before 
Baptism,  every  man  is  weighed  down  and  sunk  like  iron;  when  he 
has  been  baptized,  no  longer  like  iron,  but  now  like  some  light  sort 
of  fruit-bearing  wood,  he  is  raised.  TiO,  then,  another  figure  !  It 
was  an  axe,  wherewith  wood  was  being  cut.  The  handle  fell  from 
the  axe,  i.  e.  the  iron  was  sunk.  The  son  of  the  prophet  knew  not 
what  to  do^  this  only  he  knew,  to  ask  the  Prophet  Elisha,  and  pray 
for  a  remedy.  Then  he  cast  in  the  wood,  and  the  iron  was  raised. 
Seest  thou  then  that  in  the  cross  of  Christ  all  human  weakness  is 
raised  ?"  "  The  priest,"  he  subjoins,:}:  "  comes,  says  a  prayer  at  the 
font,  invokes  the  Name  of  the  Father,  the  Presence  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  uses  heavenly  words.  What  are  these  ?  They 
are  Christ  s ;  that  we  '  baptize  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  If,  then,  at  the  words  and  the  in- 
vocation of  a  holy  man,  the  Trinity  were  present,  how  much  more 
when  the  Eternal  Word  operates  !"  And  S.  Justin,^  '*  Elisha  bar- 
ing cast  wood  into  the  river  Jordan,  brought  up  the  iron  of  the  axe, 
wherewith  the  sons  of  the  prophets  had  gone  to  cut  wood,  to  build 

•  Justin  M.  Dial.  86.  enumerates  the  following  combinations  r  "  Moses'  rod 
dividing  the  Red  sea;  Jacob's  rods  by  the  gutters  ;"  (on  which  S.  Greg.  Nysa. 
says,  "  From  what  time  Jacob  placed  the  three  rods  by  the  fountain,  the  poly- 
theist,  Laban,  became  poor,  and  Jacob  wealthy  and  rich  in  lambs.  Be  Laban 
in  allegory  referred  t»  the  devil,  Jacob,  to  Christ.  For  after  Baptism  Christ 
took  away  also  the  troop  of  the  devil,  and  Himself  became  rich."  1.  c.  p.  375.) 
*' Jacob's  passing  the  Jordan  with  his  staff;  the  twelve  wells,  and  seventy  palm- 
trees  after  the  passage  of  the  Red  sea ;  the  curing  of  the  waters  of  Mara,  and 
Elisha's  making  the  iron  to  swim  (as  above  ;)  the  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of 
water,  which  thereupon  yield*  fruit."  Ps.  i. 

fDe  Sacr.  ii.  4. }  U- 

tDeSacr.  c.  5.  { 14. 

5  Dial,  J  86.  add  also  S.  Chrysoatome  (below,  p.  291.) 


276 

a  house,  wherein  they  purposed  to  speak  of  and  meditate  on  the 
law  and  commandments  ot  God  ;  and  us,  being  sunk  by  the  great 
weight  of  sins  which  we  had  committed,  our  Christ,  by  being  cruci- 
fied upon  the  wood,  and  purifying  us  with  water,  hath  redeemed, 
and  made  a  house  of  prayer  and  worship."  Again,  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  caused  it  to  be  recorded,  that  Jacob  "  with  his  staff  crossed  this 
Jordan,"  and,  thereupon,  was  multiplied,  and  "became  two  bands  ;" 
the  two  symbols,  "  water"  (and  that,  the  Jordan,)  and  "  wood,"  are 
again  united,  and  the  enlargement  of  him  who  had  the  blessing  of 
Abraham,  is  consequent  thereon.* 

If,  again,  the  cleansing  of  the  leprous  Naaman  in  the  Jordan  was 
typical  of  the  cleansing  through  Baptism,  it  will  hardly  be  doubted 
but  that  our  Lord,  when  He  sent  the  blind  man  to  wash  in  the  pool 
of  Siloam,  gave  an  intimation  of  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  therein, 
in  enlightening  our  blindness.f  St.  John,  by  pausing  to  comment, 
*'  which  is  by  interpretation,  '  sent,'  "  plainly  indicates  the  connec- 
tion of  that  washing  with  our  Lord  ;  it  must  be  owned  that  the  act 
was  symbolical  of  some  washing,  actual  or  figurative ;  and  our 
Lord,  in  that  He  annexed  an  actual  washing,  as  the  condition  of  re- 
covery of  sight,  directs  us  rather  to  an  actual  washing  in  Baptism 
(which  is  also  a  washing  in  His  Blood)  than  to  one  which  should  be 
merely  figurative,  without  the  intervention  of  the  element  which  He 
required. 

And  if  this  restoration  and  cure  through  the  washing  in  Siloam 
represented  ours  through  Baptism,  then  may  we  the  readier  think 
that  the  annual  cure  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  when  one  from  above 
moved  the  waters,  was  to  prepare  the  Jews  to  believe  what  they 
could  not  see,  that  the  diseases,  not  of  the  body,  but  of  the  soul, 
should  be  cured  by  the  same  element,  in  itself  so  weak  and  power- 
less.    It  stood,   as  St.  Chrysostom:{:  observes,  as  intermediate  be- 

*  See  Justin  M.  p.  275,  note  *. 

t  "  He  washed  his  eyes  in  that  pool,  which  is  interpreted  '  sent,'  i.  e.  he  was 
baptized  in  Christ."— Aug.  Tr.  44.  in  Joh.  5  2.  So  also  Cyril  Alex,  ad  loc  L. 
6.  in  Joh.  and  Severusad  loc.  ap.  Corder.  Caten.  '*the  pool  of  'Siloa,  which 
is,  sent,'  foresignifies  the  spiritual  re-formation  which  was  to  take  place 
through  Baptism." 

X  Ad.  loc.  Horn.  36.  (al.  35.)  1.  "  What  is  this  mode  of  cure  ?  What  mys- 
tery is  here  hinted  to  us?  For  it  was  not  written  without  good  ground,  but 
depicts  to  us,  as  an  image  and  outline,  what  was  to  be,  so  that  its  exceeding 
strangeness  and  unwontedness,  when  it  came  to  pass,  might  not  injure  in  the 
many  the  power  of  faith. — A  Baptism  there  was  to  be  given,  having  great 
power  and  a  mighty  gift;  a  Baptism  cleansing  all  sins,  and  giving  life  to  the 
dead.  This  then  is  foreshadowed  in  the  pool,  and  many  other  things,  as  in  an 
image  ;  and,  first,  water  was  given,  purifying  only  bodily  stains,  and  unreal 
defilements,  and  apparent  only,  as  from  a  funeral,  or  leprosy,  or  the  like. 
And  many  such  may  one  observe  wrought  by  water  under  the  Old  Testament 
for  this  purpose.  First,  then.  He  removed  bodily  defilements  by  water,  then 
divers  infirmities.    For  God,  willing  to  bring  us  nearer  the  gift  of  Baptism, 


277 

tween  the  images  of  the  law,  which  cleansed  only  unreal  impurities, 
and  the  full  reality.  It  cured  actual,  though  but  corporeal  diseases  ; 
they  incorporeal,  but  only  figurative  ;  other  miraculous  cures,  Naa- 
man's  and  that  in  the  pool  of  Siloam,  were  transient  only,  single  acts 
of  healing  power  put  forth,  and  then  withdrawn  ;  this  was  perma- 
nent, though  still  circumscribed  in  its  operation;*  Baptism  united  all, 
cleansing  incorporeal,  but  still  real,  diseases  ;  a  power,  not  tempo- 
rary, but  abiding  ;  and  inexhaustible.     "  The  figure,!  the  bodily 

now  cures  not  defilements  only,  but  diseases.  For  the  images,  whether  of 
Baptism,  or  the  Passion,  or  any  other,  as  they  come  nearer  the  truth,  are 
more  transparent  than  the  older. — And  an  angel  descending  troubled  the  water, 
and  deposited  therein  a  healing  power,  that  the  Jews  might  learn,  that  much 
more  could  the  Lord  of  the  angels  heal  all  the  diseases  of  the  soul.  But  as 
then  the  waters  did  not  heal  by  any  virtue  of  their  own,  (for  then  would  it 
have  taken  place  continually,)  but  through  the  operation  of  the  angel,  so  with 
us  also,  the  water  simply  does  not  effect  it,  but  when  it  has  received  the  grace 
of  the  Spirit,  then  it  i'rees  from  all  sin. — This  was  done,  that  they  who  had 
learnt  that  the  diseases  of  the  body  could  be  healed  in  water,  and  had  been 
long  inured  to  this,  might  the  more  readily  believe  that  the  diseases  of  the  soul 
also  could  be  healed. 

*  The  fathers  understood  by  Kara  Kaipdv,  Joh.  v.  4.  "  yearly ;"  and  it  was 
thought  that  the  annual  cure  was  at  Pentecost.  The  one  annual  cure  is  dwelt 
upon  by  Tertullian  :  (see  below.)  S.  Cyril  Alex,  ad  loc. ;  S.  Ambrose  de  Myst. 
c  4. 5  22.  "  That  pool  was  in  Jerusalem,  wherein  one  was  cured;  but  no  one 
was  cured  before  the  angel  had  descended."  "Then  one  was  cured,  now  all ; 
or  rather,  only  the  one  Christian  people. — That  pool,  then,  was  a  figure,  that 
you  may  believe  that  the  Divine  power  descends  into  this  fount."  lb.  and  S. 
Chrysostome,  adv.  ebrios.  et  de  Res.  ^  4,  5.  T.  i.  p.  444.  "  After  the  troub- 
ling of  the  water,  one  sick  person  went  in  and  was  healed  ;  one  only  was  cured 
in  the  year,  and  the  grace  was  foi-thwith  exhausted ;  not  from  the  poverty  of 
the  giver,  but  the  weakness  of  the  receivers.  The  angel  '  then  went  down  in- 
to the  pool  and  troubled  the  waters,'  and  one  was  healed  ;  the  Lord  of  the 
angels  went  down  into  the  Jordan,  and  troubled  the  water,  and  healed  the 
whole  world.  In  the  former  case,  then,  the  second  who  went  down  was  not 
healed ;  for  that  grace  was  given  to  the  Jews,  the  poor  and  weak ;  but  now 
after  the  first  a  second,  after  the  second  a  third,  after  the  third  a  fourth,  nay, 
were  you  to  cast  into  this  pool,  ten,  twenty,  a  hundred,  tens  of  thousands,  yea 
the  whole  world,  the  grace  is  not  exhausted,  the  gift  not  expended,  the  streams 
not  defiled,  A  new  mode  of  cleansing,  not  corporeal ;  for  of  bodies  the  more 
the  streams  cleanse,  the  more  they  are  defiled;  but  here,  the  more  they  wash 
the  purer  they  become.  Seest  thou  the  greatness  of  the  gift  ■?  Guard  then,  O 
man,  its  greatness."  And  again,  "That  was  a  servile  grace.  So  great  the 
difference  between  the  power  of  servants  and  the  self-agency  of  the  Lord. — 
That  healed  one,  this  the  whole  world  ;  that  descending  and  troubling  the 
water,  this  not  so  ;  but  it  suffices  amply  to  invoke  His  Name  upon  the  waters, 
and  to  deposite  in  them  the  whole  matter  of  healing;  that  cured  bodily  defects, 
this  tlm  evil  of  the  soul  also." — Hom.  in  Paral.  et  de  Christi  Divinit.  c  Anom. 
xii.  5  1.  T.  i.  p.  548,9. 

t  TertuU.  de  Bapt.  c  .3.  It  is  referred  to  in  the  Gothic  Liturgy  ;  see  below, 
p.  288.  These  pools  being  typical,  so  again  was  that  of  the  fuller's  field,  near 
which  deliverance  was  promised  to  Judah,  and  that  in  connection  with  the 
birth  of"  the  Virgin."— See  Cyril  Alex.  L.  1.  in  Es.  Orat.  4.  T.  ii.  p.  117. 


278 

remedy,  foretold  the  spiritual  remedy,  in  that  proportion  in  which 
carnal  things  ever  precede,  and  figure,  the  spiritual.  As  the  grace 
of  God  was  enlarged  among  men,  the  angel  and  the  waters  had  in- 
creased efficacy  ;  they  which  removed  bodily  defects,  now  cure  the 
spirit ;  they  which  worked  bodily  health  nov;  restore  the  spirit- 
ual ;  they  which  delivered  one  but  once  in  the  year,  now  daily  give 
life  to  nations,  abolishing  death  by  the  washing  away  of  sins."  It 
may  be  interesting  to  observe  how  the  typical  interpretations  of  the 
Church  centered  in  their  Lord  ;  and  the  paralytic's  confession,  after 
lying  for  *'  thirty  and  eight  years,"  "  Lord,  I  have  no  man,"  was  to 
them  an  acknowledgment,  that  human  nature  must  lie  helpless,  with- 
in sight  of  its  cure,  but  powerless  to  obtain  it,  until  He  the  second 
Adam  should  come,  Who  being  the  seed  of  the  woman,  was  also 
*'  the  Lord  from  heaven."'^ 

The  Christian  miracle  is  increased,  not  diminished,  by  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  outward  sign.  Outward  miracles  were  for  a  carnal 
generation,  which  "  unless  they  saw  signs  and  wonders,  would  not 
believe."  "  For  a  sign  that  the  angel  had  descended,"  says  St. 
Ambrose,!  "  the  water  was  moved,  for  the  sake  of  the  unbelieving. 
For  them  was  a  sign,  for  thee  faith  ;  to  them  the  angel  descended, 
of  thee  the  Holy  Spirit ;  for  them  the  creature  was  moved,  for  thee 
Christ  Himself  operateth,  the  Lord  of  the  creature."  *'  Sayesl| 
thou,  perhaps,  '  Why  is  it  not  moved  now  ?'  Hear  why.  Signs 
are  for  the  unbelieving,  faith  for  the  believing."  "  Then"^  [at  the 
day  of  Pentecost]  "  there  was  a  manifest  witness  of  His  coming ; 
but  on  us  now  is  bestowed  the  prerogative  of  faith  ;  because  in  the 

*  Ambr.  de  Myst.  c.  4.  5  22,  23.  "  Lastly,  that  paralytic  waited  for  a  man. 
For  whotni  but  the  Lord  Jesus,  born  of  a  Virgin,  at  whose  coming  the  shadow 
was  no  longer  to  cure  one,  but  the  Truth,  all  V  And  de  Sacr.  ii.  6.  7.  "How 
much  greater  is  the  grace  of  the  Church,  in  which  all  are  saved,  whosoever  go 
down !  But  see  the  mystery.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  to  the  Pool,  many 
sick  lay  there.  Then  He  saith  to  that  paralytic,  '  Go  down  ;'  he  saith,  '  I 
have  no  man.'  See  wherein  thou  art  baptised.  Whence  is  Baptism  but  frora 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  from  the  Death  of  Christ  1  The  whole  mystery  is  therein 
contained,  that  He  suffered  for  thee.  In  Him  shalt  thou  be  redeemed  ;  in  Him 
shalt  thou  be  saved.  '  I  have,'  he  saith,  '  no  man,'  i.  e.  '  because  by  man  is 
death,  and  by  man  the  resurrection  from  the  dead.'  He  could  not  go  down, 
could  not  be  saved,  who  did  not  believe  that  our  Lord  Jesus  had  taken  the 
flesh  of  the  Virgin.  But  he  who  waited  for  the  Mediator  between  God  and 
man,  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,  expecting  Him,  of  Wliom  it  was  said,  '  and  the 
Lord  shall  send  a  Man  who  shall  save  them,'  said,  '  1  have  no  man,'  and  there- 
fore it  was  vouchsafed  him  to  attain  a  cure,  because  he  believed  in  Him  to 
come."  And  S.  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.  xli.  33.  "  Yesterday  thou  layest,  paralytic 
and  helpless  on  thy  couch,  and  hadst  no  man  to  cast  thee  into  the  pool,  when 
the  water  was  troubled  ;  to-day  thou  hast  found  a  Man,  Who  is  also  God,  or, 
to  speak  more  truly,  God  and  Man." 

t  De  Myst.  1.  c.  %  De  Sacr.  ii.  2.  {  4. 

^  lb.  ii.  5.  fin. 


279 

beginning  signs  were  wrought  for  the  unbelieTers ;  by  us  in  the  fulness 
of  the  Church,  the  truth  is  to  be  collected  not  by  signs  but  by  faith." 

In  another  way  ;  since  all  our  Lord's  actions  had  an  object,  it 
may  not  seem  improbable,  that  if  He  had  reference  to  His  sacrament 
of  Baptism  in  giving  to  the  pool  of  Siloam  a^^  miraculous  power  to 
heal,  so  also,  when  He  chose  water  for  the  "  beginning  of  His  mira- 
cles,"* (whatever  else  He  may  have  thereby  intended,)  He  purposed 
to  sanction  and  impart  a  dignity  to  the  element  of  water  ;  and  that 
the  more,  since  He  also  closed  His  human  life  and  office  vr ith  it, 
pouring  it  out  miraculously  from  His  side,  when  dead;t  and  with  it 
concluded  also  His  dispensation  upon  the  earth,:]:  bidding  His  disci- 
ples, "  Go,  baptize  all  nations."  It  may,  further,  even  to  us,  seem 
in  harmony  therewith,  that  other  of  His  miracles  were  wrought  in 
connection  with  it ;  that  He  appeared  upon  it  to  His  disciples  ;§ 
showing  at  once  His  power  over  it,  its  subserviency  to  Him,  out  of 
its  ordinary  use,  His  Presence  with  it,  and  His  saving  arm  to  those 
toiling  and  in  jeopardy,  as  consequent  on  that  Presence. 

Again,  the  history  of  Agar  is  by  Scripture  declared  to  be  minutely 
typical ;  Agar  herself,  to  represent  the  Jewish  Church,  her  outcast 
condition,  the  rejection  of  that  portion  of  it  which  clave  to  the  flesh, 
and  the  bondage  of  the  law.  When  then  we  find  the  outcast  in  her 
despondency  crying  to  God,  and  heard  from  heaven,  and  her  eyes 
opened,  and  herself  directed  to  a  fountain  of  living  water  in  the  wil- 
derness,! whereby  she  and  her  son  lived,  it  is  surely  the  most  natural 
to  think  of  the  grace  of  Baptism,1[  wherewith  St.  Peter  exhorted  those 
who  were  "  pricked  in  heart,"  to  "  be  baptized  in  the  Name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  remission  of  sins,"  and  "  ye  shall  receive," 
he  adds,  "  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  thereby  were  they  sav- 
ed,"** and  "  added  to  the  Lord,"  and  "  the  Lord  was  with  them,"  and 
'*  made  them  a  great  nation."tt  "  Agar,"  says  St.  Gregory  of  Nys- 
sa,tt  "whom  Paul  also  shows  to  be  an  allegory,  was  brought  desolate 
to  a  desolate  land,  and  was  nigh  to  death,  and  before  her  the  child. 
The  angel  appears  unlocked  for,  and  showeth  her  a  well  of  liv- 
ing water,  and  having  drawn  thence  she  saves  Ishmael.  See 
then  the  mystic  type,  how,  from  the  very  beginning,  deliverance 
came  to  the  perishing  by  the  *  living  water.' 

And  so,  further,  to  a  thoughtful  reader,   it  will  seem  remarkable 

*  See  Tertullian  above,  p.  118.  "  He  wrought  His  first  miracle  from  water." 
Jerome,  ad  loc.     See  Liturgies,  below,  p.  291. 

t  See  Tertull.  1.  c.  *»  Because  He  had  begun  with  water,  He  ended  with 
water."    Jerome,  1.  c.  See  Liturgies,  below. 

I "  After  His  Resurrection,  He  sendeth  the  Apostles  to  the  nations,  and  com- 
mands them  to  baptize  in  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity."     Jerome,  ad  loc. 

ft  Tertull.  1.  c.  Liturgies,  below. 

ij  Cen.  xxi.  16,  20.  T[  Acts  ii.  37-  sqq. 

■**  vv.  40,  47.  ft  Gen.  xxi,  18,  20. 

it  L  c.  p.  374. 


280 

how  much  is  said  of  "wells"  in  the  history  of  the  patriarchs  ;  that  it 
was  by  a  well  that  the  servant  of  Abraham  found  Rebecca,  and  "the 
marriage  whence  was  to  issue  the  line  of  Christ  took  its  beginning 
and  first  covenant  by  water  ;"*  that  the  well  furnished  the  very  sign 
by  v/hich  the  servant  grayed  the  Lord  that  he  might  recognize  the 
bride  of  him,  in  whom  all  the  nations  of  the  world  were  to  be  bless- 
ed ;  that,  again,  Jacob,  when  seeking  his  wife  of  the  righteous 
seed,  and  not  of  the  children  of  the  land,  found  the  well-beloved  wife 
by  a  well  ;t  that  Abraham  and  Isaac  had  much  contention  with  the 
Philistines  or  aliens,  in  that  these  stopped  the  wells  which  they  had 
digged  for  the  refreslnnent  of  the  flock  in  the  desert  ;|  yet  did  the 
patriarchs  in  the  end  prevail,  and  the  waters  sprung  up  in  the  thirsty 
ground.  "At  the  opened  well  does  Moses  rescue  from  oppression 
the  daughters  of  the  pries>t  of  Midian."§  And  in  connection  with 
these,  it  is  remarkable  that  our  Lord  refreshes  his  own  strength  by 
Jacob's  well,  II  and  by  that  well  discourses  to  the  woman  of  Samaria 
of  the  "  living  water"  which  He  had  to  give,1[  and  whereby  He 
showed  Himself  to  be  greater  than  their  father  Jacob,  the  type  of 
Him. 

The  "rock,"  which  "was  Christ,"  yielded  also,  what  we  know 
was  a  "spiritual,"!,  e.  an  unearthly  "drink,"  prophetic  of  the  spir- 
itual blessing  of  Baptism.**   When  then,  in  the  same  desert,  the  nat- 

*  S.  Greg.  Nyss.  1.  c.     "  Rebecca  is  found  by  the  well."  Jerome,  ad  loc. 

f  "  And  according  to  the  sa«ie  power  of  the  word,  Jacob  also,  hasting  to  the 
espousals,  unexpectedly  met  with  Rachel  by  the  well,  and  a  great  stone  lay 
wpon  the  well,  which  the  company  of  shepherds  met  together,  and  rolled 
awav  ;  then  so  they  drew  water  for  themselves  and  their  flocks;  but  Jacob 
alone  rolls  away  the  stone,  and  gives  the  flocks  of  his  espoused  to  drink. — 
The  thing  was  an  enigma,  a  hint,  a  shadow  of  what  was  to  be.  For  what  was 
the  stone  which  lay  thereon  than  Christ  Himself?  (Esaias  xxviii.  Dan.  viii.) 
Christ,  then,  the  spiritual  stone,  lay  upon  the  well,  liiding,  in  the  depth, 
and  in  mystery,  the  laver  of  regeneration,  which  needed  much  time,  as  it 
were  a  long  cord,  to  bring  it  to  light.  And  no  one  rolled  away  the  stone  but 
Israel,  i.  e.  the  mind  which  seeth  God.  He  also  draweth  water,  and  waters 
the  flocks  of  Rachel,  i-  e.  having  laid  open  the  hidden  mystery,  gives  '  living 
water'  to  the  flock  of  the  Church." — Greg.  Nyss.  1.  c.  p.  374,  5.  add  Jerome, 
1.  c. 

J  "  Isaac  also,  when  set  over  the  herds,  every  where  in  the  desert  dug  wells, 
which  the  aliens  closed  and  choked  up,  for  a  type  of  the  ungodly  afterwards, 
who  hindered  and  stopped  up  the  grace  of  Baptism.  Yet  the  martyrs  and 
priests,  digging  wells  prevailed,  and  the  gift  of  Baptism  overflows  the  world." 
Greg.  Nyss.  1.  c  p.  374.  and  S.  Jerome,  Ep.  ad  Oc.  "  Abraham  and  Isaac  dig 
wells  ;  the  aliens  oppose." 

^  Jerome,  1.  c.  "  Beersheba  also  is  the  city  of  the  oath,  and  the  kingdom 
of  Solomon  takes  its  name  from  the  fountains"  [wells.]  Id.  ib. 

II  TertuUian  above,  p.  118. 

^  See  below,  p.  303.  sqq. 

**  u  'pi^jg  jg  l]■^Q  vvater  which  flow^ed  to  the  people  from  the  accompanying 
rock.  For  if  the  rock  is  Christ,  doubtless  we  see  the  water  blessed  for  Bap- 
tism in  Christ."    TertuU.  1.  c.  5  9. 


281 

ural  properties  of  water  were  changed,  and  what  had  no  power  to  re- 
fresh, but  rather  partook  of  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  all  earthly- 
things,  was,  through  the  wood  cast  in  by  the  Lawgiver,  changed  in- 
to a  source  of  refreshment  and  life  ;  what  is  this,  but  that  through 
the  Cross,  the  unprofitable  element  receives  a  power  not  its  own, 
and  then  becomes  capable  of  refreshment  ?*  What  does  it  bid  us 
other  than  not  to  look  at  the  natural  power  of  the  element,  but  to 
His  "  Who  commandeth  the  waters  ;"  not  to  the  things  seen,  but  to 
the  unseen  ? 

The  same  instruction  is  also  therein  contained,  that  when  the 
might  of  the  Lord  was,  at  the  prayer  of  His  single  prophet,  put  forth 
to  shame  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and  bring  back  the  wavering  people, 
the  sign  was  with  fire  mingled  with  water ;  the  water  lost  its  own 
power,  and  was  wholly  absorbed  and  turned  into  fire,  emblematic  of 
the  Baptism  of  "  water  and  the  Spirit,"  which  is  also  a  Baptism 
"  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire."t  To  hear  the  fervent  words 
of  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,|  "  That  wondrous  sacrifice  of  the  aged 
Tishbite,  surpassing  all  thought  of  man,  what  else  does  it  than  in  ac- 
tion foresignify  the  faith  in  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and 
redemption  ?  He  did  not  simply  by  prayer  bring  down  fire  from 
heaven  upon  the  dry  wood,  but  having  thrice  poured  the  barrels  of 
water  upon  the  divided  wood,  by  prayer  he  kindled  fire  out  of 
water,  that  from  the  physical  opposition  of  the  elements,  which  thus 
strangely  met  together  in  unity  and  co-operation,  he  might  show  the 

*  Thus  Justin,  M.  (among  other  instances,)  having  cast  wood  into  the  water 
of  Mara,  which  was  bitter,  he  made  it  sweet." — Dial.  §  86.  "Water  also  is 
by  the  wood  of  Moses  cured  from  its  vitiated  bitterness  to  a  wholesome  use 
and  sweetness.  That  wood  was  Christ,  curing  by  Himself  the  veins  of  nature, 
heretofore  empoisoned  and  bitter,  into  the  most  wholesome  water  of  Baptism." 
— Tert.  1.  c.  5  9.  "Mara  was  a  most  bitter  fountain  ;  Moses  cast  the  wood 
into  it,  and  it  became  sweet.  For  water,  without  the  preaching  of  the  Cross 
of  the  Lord,  is  of  no  benefit  towards  salvation,  but  when  followed  by  the  mys- 
tery of  the  healthful  Cross,  then  it  is  tempered  to  the  use  of  the  spiritual  laver 
and  the  healthful  cup." — Ambrose  de  Myst.  5X4.  When  they  first  drank  it, 
they  perceived  its  bitterness,  and  were  unable  to  drink  it ;  therefore  Moses 
cast  wood  into  the  fountain,  and  the  water,  which  before  was  bitter,  began  to 
grow  sweet.  What  signifies  this,  but  that  all  created  nature,  subject  to  cor- 
ruption, is  to  all  a  bitter  water  1  Be  it  for  the  time  sweet  and  pleasant,  yet  it 
is  bitter,  since  it  cannot  take  away  sin.  When  thou  hast  drunk,  thou  wilt  be 
thirsty  ;  when  thou  hast  tasted  the  sweetness  of  the  draught,  thou  wilt  in  turn 
feel  its  bitterness.  The  water  then  is  bitter  ;  but  when  thou  hast  tasted  the 
Cross  of  Christ,  hast  received  the  heavenly  sacrament,  it  begins  to  become  sweet 
and  pleasant;  and  rightly  so,  since  therein  sin  is  removed.  If  then  figurative 
baptisms  were  of  such  avail,  how  muclimore  Baptisms  in  truth!" — Id.deSacr. 
ii.  4.  5  13,  13.  "  Mara  is  changed  by  the  mystery  of  the  Cross  ;  and  the  sev- 
enty palm-trees  of  the  apostles  are  watered  by  the  streams  of  the  law,  now 
turned  to  sweetness." — Jer.  ad  Ocean,  add  ad  Ezek.  xlvii.  1. 

t  See  note  A.  at  the  end. 

1 1.  c  p.  376. 


282 

exceeding  might  of  his  own  God.  Thus  did  Ehjah,  through  that 
his  wondrous  sacrifice,  evidently  proclaim  to  us  beforehand  the  mys- 
terious consecration  by  Baptism,  which  was  afterward  to  be.  for 
the  fire  was  kindled,  when  the  water  had  been  thrice  poured  over, 
so  as  to  show  that  where  the  mystic  water  is,  there  also  is  the  kind- 
ling, glowing,  fiery  Spirit,  Which  burneth  up  the  ungodly,  and  en- 
lighteneth  the  faithful."  And  St.  Basil,*  Elijah  showed  the  might  of 
Baptism  at  the  altar  of  the  whole  burnt-offering,  consuming  the  sac- 
rifice, not  by  fire  but  by  water.  For  when  the  water  had  been  pour- 
ed over  the  altar  thrice,  in  a  mystery,  then  was  it  the  source  of  fire, 
and  kindled  the  flame  as  though  it  were  oil.  The  word  showing 
that  whoso  cometh  is  by  Baptism  made  a  friend  of  God,  and  that  a 
pure  and  heavenly  light  shines  in  the  souls  of  those  who  approach 
through  the  faith  in  the  Trinity."  Again,  S.  Ambrose,t  "  In  the 
time  also  of  Elias,  fire  came  down  when  he  challenged  the  prophets 
of  the  Gentiles  to  kindle  the  altar  without  fire,  which  when  they  could 
not  do,  himself,  the  third  time  drenched  his  sacrifice,  and  the  water 
ran  around  the  altar,  and  he  called  aloud,  and  fire  fell  from  the  Lord 
from  heaven,  and  consumed  the  whole  burnt-offering.  That  offering 
art  thou.  Thinkest  thou  it  is  not  consumed,  when  in  the  sacrament 
of  Baptism  the  whole  outward  man  perishes  ?  '  Our  old  man  was 
co-nailed  to  the  cross,'  crieth  the  apostle." 

It  will  have  appeared  in  the  above  instances  how  especially  any 
intimation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  rivetted  the  attention  of  the 
Ancient  Church ;  on  it  turned  all  their  thoughts,  as  does  man's  sal- 
vation ;  and  so  they  recognized  it  vividly.  The  slightest  hint  suffi- 
ces for  affection  to  bring  before  its  eyes  the  whole  train  of  thought  it 
loves  to  dwell  upon.  Especially  does  the  Latin  Church  appear  to 
have  been  drawn  to  the  history  of  the  Creation,  both  as  in  itself  shad- 
owing forth  our  re-creation,  and  because  it  contains  the  earliest  no- 
tice of  the  doctrine,  on  which  their  souls  hung.  As  the  picture  of 
man's  innocency,  and  the  type  oFour  Paradise,  it  was  not  without 
interest,  that  this  primeval  Paradise  was  watered  by  a  stream,  which 
becoming  four  heads  refreshed  the  whole  world  (and  that  the  more 
since  this  type  seems  carried  out  in  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  waters, 
which  issuing  from  the  temple  bring  healing  to  the  whole  world  ;:|:) 

♦In  S.  Bapt.  1.  c.  p.  115. 

t  De  Off.  Min.  iii.  18. }  106,7.  add  Damasc.  de  Fid.  Orthod.  iv.  10.  "  Elijah 
showed  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  mingled  with  water,  when  he  with  water  con- 
sumed the  burnt  offering."     Comp.  also  the  Coptic  Liturgy,  below,  p.  288. 

X  Ezek.  xlvii.  1.  sqq.     It  is  interpreted  of  Baptism  by  S.  Jerome,  Ep.  ad 

Ocean.  1.  c.  and  in  Zech.  xiii.  1.  and  ad  loc.      " signifying  the   sins  of 

men.  which  are  forgiven  us  when  we  enter  the  waters  of  the  Lord,  and  show 
the  salutary  grace  of  Baptism,  and  are  the  beginnings  of  further  advances,  yet 
themselves  high  and  exalted."  And  Theodoret  ad  loc.  "  He  seeth  the  water 
going  forth  from  the  doors  of  the  house,  and  passing  by  the  altar,  and  going 
through  the  more  Northern  parts  Eastward.     For  from  the  Jews  salvation 


283 

that  there  are  waters  even  above  the  heavens,  whence,  in  the  prophet 
Ezekiel,  the  firmament  above  the  Cherubim,  was  as  a  chrystal  sea ; 
that  waters  were  the  first  source  of  Hfe,*  and  that  the  things  thus 
born  of  water,  first  received  a  blessing  from  God.f     But  chiefly  they 

came  to  the  Gentiles ;  and  Christ,  (Who  was  from  David  according  to  the 
flesh,  of  the  Virgin's  womb,  as  from  a  holy  vestibule,)  'by  water  and  the  Spirit,' 
imparted  regeneration  to  the  world.  Of  this  same  does  the  blessed  Isaiah 
(xliv.  3.)  prophesy,  '  I  will  pour  water  upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods 
upon  the  dry  ground.'  And  Zechariah,  'In  sununer  and  in  spring  shall  it  be 
thus,'  for  so  saith  the  Lord  to  the  Samaritan  woman,  John  iv.  14.  And  again 
c.  vii.  This  water  the  divine  Ezekiel  saw  flowing  from  the  vestibule  of  the 
house  (for  our  blessings  were  foretold  through  the  law  and  the  prophets,)  and 
passing  by  the  altar,  because  it  had  its  passage  only  through  the  Jews  ;  for 
since,  unbelieving,  they  would  not  yield  the  fruits  of  faith,  they  went  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  water  that  most  spacious  and  beautiful  paradise  of  the  Churches. 
And  on  each  bank  were  there  trees,  for  this  water  caused  to  spring  forth  not 
only  faith  in  God,  but  action  according  to  God." 

*  These  are  thus  brought  together  by  St.  Jerome,  1.  c.  "  Mid  heaven  and 
earth  the  firmament  is  formed  ;  and  the  '  waters  which  are  above  the  heavens,' 
are  set  apait  for  the  glory  of  God.  (Ps.  cxlviii.  4.  comp.  St.  August.  Confess.) 
Whence  also  in  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  outstretched  over  the  Cherubim,  is  seen 
the  crystal,  i.  e.  the  compact  and  denser  waters.  From  waters  springeth  the 
first  living  thing,  and  lifts  from  earth  to  heaven  the  winged  faithful.  [The 
birds  flying  to  heaven,  emblematic  of  the  baptized  dwelling  on  things  above.] 
A  paradise  is  planted  in  Eden,  and  one  source  is  divided  into  four  heads, 
which  afterwards,  going  forth  from  the  temple,  and  going  toward  the  rising  of 
the  sun,  (Ezek.  xlvii.  1.)  gives  life  to  the  bitter  and  dead  waters."  And  Ter- 
tullian  (de  Bapt.  c  3.)  "  What  that  thereupon  [on  the  brooding  of  the  Holy 
Spirit]  waters  became,  in  a  manner,  a  plastic  instrument  to  order  the  world 
to  Godward  1  For  to  hang  the  heavenly  firmament.  He  separated  the  waters 
from  the  waters  ;  and  the  balance  of  the  dry  land,  He  wrought  by  the  removal 
of  the  waters.  When  further,  the  world  being  ordered  in  its  elements,  had  its 
inhabitants  assigned,  waters  first  were  bidden  to  bring  forth  the  living  thing. 
Water  first  yielded  what  had  life,  lest  it  should  be  a  strange  thing  that  in  Bap- 
tism water  should  impart  life."  S.  Cyril  of  Jerus.  Lect.  iii.  5.  "  Heaven  is  the 
abode  of  angels,  and  the  heavens  are  of  the  waters  ;  earth  is  the  place  of  men, 
and  the  earth  is  of  the  waters."  So  Liturgies  below,  Note  p.  287.  sqq.  So  also 
in  the  Clementine  writings,  "  that  thou  mayest  know  thy  extraction,  and  having 
been  re-born  by  water,  which  first  gave  birth  to  life,"  [or  "the  first-produced," 
as  in  the  Recog.]  "  mayest  also  be  made  heir  of  the  parents,  who  begat  thee 
to  incorruption."  Clem,  xi-  24.  — "  mayest  acknowledge  His  will,  that  by  the 
waters  which  were  first  created,  thou  mayest  be  re-created."  Recogn.  vi.  8. 
"  For  there  is,  what  from  the  beginning  was  merciful,  borne  above  the  water, 
Who  acknowledges  those  who  are  baptized  with  the  invocation  of  the  Blessed 
Trinity,  and  saves  them  from  future  punishment,  offering  as  gifts  to  God  the 
good  deeds  of  the  baptized  after  their  Baptism."  [" —  the  souls  consecrated 
in  Baptism.]"  Recog.  Clem.  xi.  26. 

f  "  Besides,  the  things  produced  from  the  waters  were  blessed  by  God,  that 
even  this  might  be  a  sign,  that  men  should  receive  repentance  and  remission 
of  sins  through  water  and  the  washing  of  regeneration,  as  many  as  came  in 
truth,  and  were  re-born  and  received  blessing  from  God."  Theoph.  ad  Autol. 
ii.  16.  p.  361.  ed.  Ben.  "  Ye  say,"  urges  Optatus  upon  the  Donatists,  who  re- 
garded all  Baptism  but  their  own,  invalid,  "  that  the  Trinity  availeth  not  unless 


284 

dwelt  on  that  in  which  the  Presence  of  the  Trinity  was  manifested, 
when  "by  the  Word  of  God  were  the  heavens  made,  and  all  the 
host  of  them,  by  the  Spirit  of  His  mouth  ;"*  and  the  Holy  Spirit 
gave  an  earnest  of  His  future  condescension  in  re-moulding  our  dis- 
ordered and  wasted  condition,  in  that  He  brooded  over,  and  fostered 
the  waste  and  formless  deep,  "  Water,"  says  Tertullian,t  "  was 
the  dwelling-place  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  more  favored  even  then  than 
the  other  elements.  For  all  was  darkness,  shapeless,  undecked  with 
stars,  a  gloomy  abyss,  an  unprepared  earth,  an  unformed  sky ;  water 
alone  ever  perfect  matter,  joyous,  simple,  pure  in  itself,  yielded  itself 
as  an  appropriate  chariot  to  God.  By  the  very  position  was  it  fore- 
shown that  the  Spirit  of  God,  Which  from  the  beginning  was  '  borne 
above  the  waters,'  would  abide  upon  them  as  the  Baptizer.  Holy 
then  He  was  borne  above  the  holy  ;  or  from  That  which  was  borne 
above,  that  which  bore,  borrowed  holiness."  "  Consider,"  says  St. 
Ambrose, J  "  how  old  the  mystery  is,  prefigured  in  the  origin  of  the 
very  world.  In  the  very  beginning,  when  God  made  heaven  and 
earth,  He  says.  The  Spirit  was  borne  upon  the  waters.  He  Who 
was  borne  upon  the  waters,  did  He  not  operate  upon  the  waters  ? — 
Know  that  He  did  in  that  formation  of  the  world,  since  the  prophet 
says,  '  By  the  Word,'  &c.  Moses  testifies  His  presence,  David 
His  operation."  "  The§  waste  world,  visited  neither  by  the  bright- 
ness -of  the  sun,  nor  the  pale  light  of  the  moon,  nor  gleaming  of  stars, 
was  a  formless  and  viewless  matter,  vast  abysses  covered  with 
fearful  darkness.     The  Spirit  of  God  was  seated  and  borne  over  the 

ye  also  be  present.  If  you  hold  us  of  no  account,  yet,  at  least,  reverence  the 
Lord,  who  is  first  in  the  Trinity,  Who,  with  His  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
worketh  and  filleth  all  things,  even  where  there  is  no  human  agent.  But  thou 
hast  said,  in  praise  of  water,  out  of  the  history  of  the  creation,  that  the  waters 
first  produced  living  creatures.  Could  they  by  themselves  produce  them? 
Was  not  the  whole  Trinity  there  ]  Inasmuch  as  God  the  Father  was  there, 
Who  deigned  to  bid,  '  let  the  waters  bring  forth ;'  for  had  what  was  made, 
been  made  without  One  operating,  God  had  said,  '  Waters,  bring  forth  ;'  there 
was  the  Son  of  God  Who  operated  ;  there  was  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  is  read, 
'  and  the  Spirit  of  God  was  borne  above  the  waters.' "  L.  v.  c.  2.  "  The  Spirit 
of  God  was  borne  above  the  waters,  as  the  Creator,  by  virtue  of  His  power 
holding  together  the  creature,  thence  to  produce  every  thing  living,  and  to  im- 
part the  genial  influence  of  fire  to  the  unformed  elements,  and  that  even  then 
the  mystery  of  Baptism  gleaming  through,  the  nature  of  that  fluid  might  receive 
the  power  of  sanctification,  and  first  of  all  bring  forth  animate  bodies  to  life." 
Victor  Utic.  L.  2.  extracted  by  Causaubon,  ad  Opt.  1.  c.  And  St.  Ambrose  (de 
Sacr.  v.  1.  5  3.)  "  These  things  were  in  the  beginning  of  the  creation,  but  i'or 
thee  it  is  reserved  that  water  should  re-generate  thee  to  grace,  as  that  other 
generated  to  life  ;"  and  John  Damasc.  quotes  "  the  great  Basil,"  as  saying  the 
like,  that  "  God  bade  the  water  first  produce  the  living  soul,  because  through 
water  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  borne  in  the  beginning  above  the  water,  God  pur- 
posed to  regenerate  man."  De  Fid.  orthod.  ii.  9. 

*  Ps.  xxxiii.  6.  t  T)e  Bapt.  c.  3,  4. 

t  De  Myst.  c.  3-5  9.  ^  Jerome  ad  Oc.  Ep.  69. 


285 

waters,  guiding  and  controlling  them,  and,  with  a  likeness  to  Bap- 
tism, in  its  birth,  gave  life  to  the  world."  In  like  way,  also  in  the 
Greek  Church,  "  before  all  the  six  days  of  the  creation,  the  Spirit  of 
God  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters.  Waterwas  the  heginning  of 
the  world ;  the  Jordan  luas  the  beginning  of  Gospel  preaching^'* 
And  St.  Hippolytus,!  "  This  is  the  Spirit  which  from  the  beginning 
was  borne  above  the  waters,  whereby  the  world  is  moved,  the  crea- 
tion subsists,  and  all  things  are  quickened  ;  which  operated  in  the 
prophets,  and  lighted  upon  Christ.  This  David  sought,  when  he 
said.  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit 
within  me.  This  is  the  Spirit  the  Paraclete  sent  for  thy  sake,  to 
show  thee  to  be  a  Son  of  God."* 

The  parallel  is  remarkable  certainly  ;  in  either  case  it  is  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  respective  dispensations ;  in  either,  a  chaos,  of  itself 
inert,  waste,  void,  and  helpless  ;  in  either,  a  rude,  and  disharmoniz- 
ing and  darkened  world,  brought  into  order  and  beauty  ;  in  both,  the 
enlightening  follows  :  in  both,  life  ;  in  both,  the  self-same  Spirit 
presides  over  and  gives  efficacy  to  the  waters  ;  in  both  is  the  Pres- 
ence of  the  Trinity.  And  for  those,  who  in  "  the  Spirit  of  God 
moving  upon  the  face-  of  the  waters,"  readily  recognize  the  Third 
Person  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  and  to  whom  the  interpretation  of 
*'  a  mighty  wind"  would  justly  seem  degrading  and  profane,  yet  are 
disinclined  to  acknowledge  in  that  mysterious  working  any  prepara- 
tion for  the  mystery  of  Baptism,  it  may  be  instructive  to  know  that 
the  two  interpretations  went  together  ;  that  they  only  among  the  an- 
cients omitted  to  recognize  the  reference  to  Baptism,  who,  in  the 
"  Spirit  of  God,"  imagine  only  a  created  agency  ;t  that  all  who  be- 
lieved that  God  the  Holy  Spirit  personally  operated  at  the  creation, 
looked  upon  these  His  earlier  workings  as  an  earnest  of  His  greater 
operations  in  man's  re-creation. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  remarked  (and  misapprehension  may 

*  Cyril  of  Jerus.  iii.  5.  and  "  some,"  ap.  Procopius. 

t  In  Theoph.  {  9. 

j  "  Some  think,  the  all-holy  Spirit  giving  life  to  the  nature  of  water,  and 
depicting  the  grace  of  Baptism.  I  think  the  truer  explanation,  that  he  here 
calls  the  air  spirit."  Theodoret  ad  loc.  In  the  Latin  Church,  S.  Augustine 
is  perhaps,  not  so  much  noticing  an  existing  doubt,  as  removing  a.  possible  mis- 
interpretation, when,  in  answer  to  those,  who  thought  "  the  Spirit  of  God," 
did  not  necessarily  mean  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  says  on  this  passage  : — "  I  know 
not  what  should  hinder  our  understanding  the  Spirit  of  God,  especially  when 
that  expression,  as  is  the  wont  of  those  Scriptures,  sounds  as  though  it  had  a 
prophetic  meaning,  and  prefigures  the  mystery  of  the  future  Baptism  of  the 
people  to  be  born  of  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit."  De  div.  quaest.  ad  Simplic. 
ii.  5  5-  In  the  Confessions  (xiii.  12.)  he  gives  without  doubt  this  same  in- 
terpretation. It  may  be  noticed,  by  the  way,  how  much  more  these  interpre- 
tations involve  than  may  at  first  sight  appear.  The  interpretation  which 
explains  it  of  the  "  Holy  Spirit,"  appears  to  be  the  older  and  traditionary.— 
See  Addenda. 


2S6 

thereby  be  saved,  and  our  own  Liturgy  illustrated)  that  in  this  his- 
tory, and  elsewhere,  there  is  in  the  Ancient  Church  what  by  moderns 
would  be  condemned  as  Realism,  or  MateriaUsm,  or  Mysticism. 
Their  view  seems  to  have  been  of  this  sort.  Since'  God  had  appoint- 
ed the  use  of  water  for  Baptism,  there  must  have  been  an  appropri- 
ateness in  it,  which  there  was  in  no  other  element ;  that  there  was 
an  analogy  between  His  physical  and  moral  Creation,  and  that  not 
only  imaginative  but  real ;  that  in  forming  the  Physical,  He  had  re- 
spect also  to  the  purposes  which  He  designed  in  His  Moral  creation, 
and  imparted  to  the  physical  agent  properties  corresponding  to  its 
moral  uses  ;  that  in  His  earlier  dispensations  He  had  regard  to  the 
latter,  and  not  only  taught  man  beforehand  what  should  be,  but  in  a 
manner,  by  employing  His  creature  in  the  subordinate  offices  of  the 
former,  imparted  to  it  a  fitness  to  serve  in  the  latter  and  greater. — 
Something  of  this  sort,  as  derived  from  the  Ancient  Church,  is  ac- 
knowledged by  our  own,  that  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord  **  sanctified 
water  to  the  washing  away  of  sin,"  i.  e.  at  the  least,  our  Lord's  Bap- 
tism in  Jordan  imparted  to  the  whole  element  of  water  a  capacity  of 
becoming  the  instrument  of  washing  away  sin,  which,  apart  from 
His  Baptism,  it  would  not  have  had.  In  the  Ancient  Church  this 
same  view  is  apparent,  as  well  as  in  this  same  instance,  as  in  the 
mode  in  which  they  rehearse  together  its  implanted  property  of 
cleansing,  refreshing,  and  its  analogous  spiritual  offices.  Thus  S. 
Theophilus,  in  a  passage  just  preceding  that  quoted,  "  Therefore  I 
proclaim,  come  all  tribes  of  the  nations  to  the  immortality  of  Bap- 
tism. Come  to  freedom  from  slavery,  to  a  kingdom  from  a  tyranny, 
to  incorruption  from  corruption.  '  And  how,'  say  they,  '  shall  we 
come  V  How  ?  by  '  water  and  the  Holy  Spirit.'  This  is  the  water 
partaking  of  the  Spirit,  whereby  paradise  is  watered,  whereby  the 
earth  is  made  fruitful,  whereby  the  plants  grow,  whereby  living 
things  increase,  and,  in  a  word,  whereby  man  born  again  is  quickened 
wherein  Christ  also  was  Baptized,  wherein  the  Spirit  also  descended, 
in  the  form  of  a  dove."  In  like  manner,  Tertullian,*  "  Were  I  to 
pursue  in  order  all,  or  the  greater  part  of,  the  things  which  I  could 
mention  in  sanction  of  this  element,  how  great  its  force,  or  accepta- 
bleness,  how  varied  the  characters,  ofllices,  services,  it  discharges  in 
the  world,  I  fear  I  should  seem  to  be  bringing  together  panegyrics 
of  water,  rather  than  grounds  for  Baptism.  And  yet  I  should  there- 
by show  more  fully,  that  we  may  not  doubt  thereof,  if  God  have 
made  to  be  the  source  of  life  in  His  own  sacraments,  that  substance, 
which  he  has  disposed  throughout  all  things  and  all  His  works  ;  if 
that  which  presides  over  earthly  life,  be  the  minister  also  of  heaven- 
ly.— Thus  then  [from  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  creation] 
the  nature  of  waters  having  been  hallowed  by  the  Holy  One,  itself 

*  In  Theoph.  {  8.    It  immediately  precedes  that  quoted,  p.  285. 


287 

also  received  the  power  to  hallow.  Let  no  one  say,  Are  we  then 
baptized  in  the  same  waters  which  were  then  in  the  beginning  ?  Not 
in  tiie  same,  except  so  far  as  different  species  are  included  under  the 
same  genus.  But  what  is  assigned  to  the  genus  passes  over  to  the 
species.  So  then  there  is  no  difference  whether  one  be  baptized  in 
sea  or  lake,  stream  or  fountain  ;  nor  is  there  [so  far]  any  difference 
between  those  whom  John  baptized  in  Jordan,  Peter  in  the  Tyber. 
Unless,  indeed  that  Eunuch,  whom  Philip  baptized  in  some  chance 
water  by  the  way,  was  more  or  less  saved.  So  then  all  waters, 
when  God  has  been  invoked,  from  that  first  prerogative  at  their  very 
origin,  obtain  the  sacramental  power  of  sanctifying.  For  immedi- 
ately the  Spirit  cometh  upon  them  from  heaven,  and  is  upon  the 
waters,  sanctifying  them  from  Himself,  and  so  sanctified  they  imbibe 
the  power  of  sanctifying."  The  same  view  is  apparent,  not  in  indi- 
vidual fathers  only,  but  in  Liturgies. 

The  old  Latin  Liturgy  has  a  prayer  exactly  corresponding  with 
this  view  of  TertuUian  :  "  O  God,  whose  Holy  Spirit  was,  in  the 
very  rudiments  of  the  world,  borne  above  the  waters,  that  the  nature 
of  waters  might  even  then  receive  the  power  of  sanctifying ;"  and  all 
the  liturgies  have  this  in  common,  that  they  combine  God's  wonder- 
ful disposition  of  waters  in  His  creation,  with  His  miraculous  uses 
of  them  in  His  Providence,  and  plead  both  before  God  as  grounds 
why  He  should  deign  to  give  a  sanctifying  power  to  the  very  waters, 
to  dwell  in  them  or  upon  them  by  His  Spirit ;  and  this  they  do  in 
the  same  way  as,  for  the  consecration  of  the  other  sacrament,  all 
liturgies  rehearse  our  Lord's  words  of  institution.* 

*  In  the  Gelasian  Liturgy,  after  the  instances  cited  below,  there  follow 
words  exactly  corresponding  to  those  used  in  the  other  sacrament.  "  With  us, 
observing  these  precepts,  be  Thou,  Almighty  God,  graciously  present,"  unless 
indeed  they  apply  to  our  Lord's  command  only,  "  Go,  baptize  all  nations," 
which  had  immediately  preceded.  There  follow,  however,  words  connecting 
the  natural  and  spiritual  uses — "  Do  Thou  bless  with  Thy  mouth  these  mere 
watery,  that  besides  the  natural  power  of  cleansing,  which  they  can  exert  for 
the  washing  of  bodies,  they  may  be  efficacious  also  for  purifying  souls."  So 
also  in  the  Sacramentary  of  Gellone  (ii.  53. ;)  Chelle  (ii.  62. ;)  Poictiers  (ii. 
65.)  So  also  in  the  Liturgies  generally,  as  in  our  own,  these  references  to 
God's  former  mighty  worlis,  occur  in  the  consecration  of  the  font.  Thus  in 
another  form  in  the  liturgy  of  Gelasius  (ii.  6. ;)  "  I  exorcise  thee,  creature  of 
water  by  the  living  God,  by  the  Holy  God,  by  God,  author  of  all  sweetness. 
Who  in  the  beginning  by  His  word  separated  thee  from  the  earth,  and  di- 
viding thee  in  four  streams  commanded  thee  to  water  the  whole  earth.  I  adjure 
thee  by  Jesus  Christ,  His  only  Son.  our  Lord,  that  in  Him,  who  is  to  be  bap- 
tized in  thee,  thou  be  made  a  fount  of  water,  springing  up  to  life  eternal,  re- 
generating him  to  God,  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  who  is  to  come  in 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  judge  quick  and  dead,  and  the  whole  world,  by  fire."  And 
in  the  Old  Gallican,  "  I  exorcise  thee,  Fount  of  never- failing  water,  by  the 
Holy  God,  and  the  true  God,  Who,  &c.  (as  in  the  Gelasian.)  Be  thou  a 
holy  water,  a  blessed  water,  washing  away  filth  and  remitting  sins.    I  eror- 


288 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  all  will  at  once  see  the  harmony  and 
beauty  of  all  these  types  ;  nor  have  the  details,  naturally,  the  same 
authority  as  the  principle.  It  would  seem  that  any  one,  ever  so  lit- 
tle capable  of  seeing  the  analogies  of  things,  must  (unless  he  be  un- 
der a  strong  bias,  such  as  the  dread  of  giving  scope  to  the  imagina- 
tion, fancifulness,  and  the  like,)  recognize  the  bearings  of  the  several 
parts  of  God's  dispensation  upon  each  other,  beyond  what  the  New 
Testament  has  absolutely  laid  down  for  him.  He  would  see  that  the 
New  Testament  was  a  guide  to  him  to  go  onward,  not  a  barrier  to 
withhold  him ;  that  so  far  from  binding  him  down  to  the  precise 
cases,  with  which  it  provided  him,  it  rather  furnished  him  with  a 
principle  and  a  rule,  whereby  to  judge  of  the  like.  The  types  au- 
thenticated in  the  N.  T.  are  not  of  one  kind,  nor  drawn  from  one 

cise  thee  in  His  Name,  Who  gave  to  His  disciples  a  new  sacrament,  saying, 
'  Go  among  the  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  Name,'  &c.  Through  the  Fa- 
ther, and  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  Who  is  to  come  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  judge  the  world  by  fire."  (lb.  ii.  37.)  In  the  Gothic,  Holy  Lord, 
Almighty  Father,  Eternal  God,  Hallower  of  the  Saints,  Source  of  Anointing, 
and  Giver  of  a  new  Sacrament,  tlirough  Thine  Only  Son  our  Lord  and  God, 
Who  gavest  Thy  Holy  Spirit  to  be  borne  upon  the  waters  before  the  beginning 
of  the  world,  Who,  through  an  Angel,  gavest  to  the  waters  of  Bethesda  power 
to  heal,"  &c.  as  in  p.  227.  "  Look,  Lord,  upon  these  waters,"  &c.  (Ass.  ii. 
35.)  In  the  Greek  :  "  Lord  God  Almighty,  Framer  of  all  creation,  visible  and 
invisible.  Who  '  madest  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  things  in  them,' 
and  '  gatheredst  the  waters  into  one,'  and  shuttest  up  the  deep,'  (Job  xxxviii. 
8.)  and  sealedst  it  with  Thy  terrible  and  glorious  Name ;  who  suspendest 
'the  waters  above  the  heavens.'  'Thou  establishedst  the  earth  above  the 
waters.'  (Ps.  cxxxvi.  6.)  'Thou  breakest  in  pieces  the  heads  of  the  dragons 
in  the  waters.'  (Ps.  Ixxiv.  13.)  Thou  art  terrible,  and  who  shall  resist  TheeT 
Look,  O  Lord,  upon  this  Thy  creature,  and  upon  this  water,"  &c.  (Ass.  ii. 
146,  7.)  And  more  at  length  in  the  Coptic,  '  Who  createdst  the  waters  which 
are  above  the  heavens,  Who  foundest  the  earth  upon  the  waters,'  '  Who  gath- 
eredst the  waters  into  one  place,'  and  barredst  up  the  abyss,  and  sealedst 
them  with  Thy  holy  and  most  glorious  Name. — Thou,  our  Lord,  by  Thy 
power  settest  fast  the  sea  ;'  '  Thou  breakest  the  heads  of  the  dragons  upon  the 
waters.'  Thou  breakest  up  the  fountains  and  torrents,  and  madest  paths  for 
the  waters.  '  The  waters  saw  Thee,  O  God,  and  were  afraid  ;  the  depths  also 
were  troubled'  at  the  voice  of  many  waters.  At  sight  of  Thee  the  waters  of 
the  Red  sea  '  stood  on  an  heap,'  and  Thou  '  leddest  forth  Israel,'  and  baptiz- 
edst  them  all  by  Moses.' — Thou  'commandedst  the  hard  rock,'  and  forthwith 
it  gave  forth  waters  for  Thy  people  ;  Thou  turnedst  the  bitter  waters  into 
sweet.  Thou  also  by  Joshua,  son  of  Nun,  turnedst  back  the  rivers.  For 
who  can  stand  before  Thy  aweful  face  ?  Tliou  likewise  receivedstthe  burnt- 
offering  of  Elijah  drenched  with  water,  consumed  with  heavenly  fire.  Thou 
also,  our  Lord,  by  Elisha  Thy  Prophet,  foresignifiedst  the  water  of  the  life- 
giving  birth,  and  cleansedst  Naaman  the  Syrian  by  the  waters  of  Jordan.  For 
Thou  art  Almighty,  and  nothing  is  impossible  with  Thee. — Now  then,  0  our 
Lord — Thou  that  sittest  upon  the  Cherubim,  shov/  Thyself,  and  look  upon  this 
water.  Thy  creature,"  &c.  (Ass.  ii.  170—3.  The  Armenian  again,  though 
more  briefly,  "  Thou,  Lord,  by  Thy  great  power  madest  the  sea  and  dry  land, 
and  all  creatures  in  them.  Thou  separatedst  and  settest  fast  the  waters  which 
are  above  the  heavens,  for  a  dwelling  of  Thy  shining  Angels,  who  ever  stand 


source.  Samples,  so  to  speak,  of  different  kinds  liave  been  given 
us  ;  and  others  closely  akin  to  those  given,  have  been  passed  over; 
-and  so  each  type  authorized  is  the  representative  of  a  kindred  class; 
and  the  authority  of  Inspiration  may  be  regarded  as  affixed,  not  to 
•the  individual  instance  only,  but  -to  the  class.  The  Church,  upon 
"whom  the  New  Testament,  was  bestowed,  already  recognized  the 
•typical  character  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  so  must  continue  to 
^o,  the  rather  because  while  so  much  was  authorized,  so  much  which 
she  recognized  as  typical  was  vir4;ually  sanctioned.  The  typical 
•character  of  these  further  types  would  seem  matter  of  instinct  and 
perception,  for  which  some  reasons  may  be  given  (as  has  been 
-above -attempted,)  but  which  in  itself  require  none.  Such  reasons  in- 
fluenced, doubtless,  the  ancient  Church-,  yet  (it  is  more  probable) 
only  imperceptibly;  the  types  are  mentioned  (where  they  occur) 
naturally,  as  by  persons  who  had  a  vivid  perception  of  the  relation  of 
the  Old  to  the  New  Testament,  and  of  things  visible  to  theinvisible;  and 
who  see  them,  not  reason  upon  them  ;  the  recurrence  of  any  recog- 
nized symbol,  much  more  the  combination  of  two  or  more,  at  once 
-suggests  to  them  the  reality.  Nothing,  they  are  persuaded,  is  ac- 
■cidental  in  Holy  Scripture  :  so  then,  neither  the  frequent  mention  of 
Water,  nor  that  the  fountain  of  "  living  water"  was  covered  over  by 
a  *•'  stone,"  which  they  knew  to  be  a  symbol  of  their  Lord ;  nor, — 
^since  "  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  was  to 
•offer  Himself  upon  the  tree,  the  Son  of  man  to  be  lifted  up  upon 
•the  cross, — that  wood  wa^  brought  into  connection  with  the  element, 
wherein  they  were  baptized  ;  nor  that  the  Presence  of  the  Trinity, 
Whose  invocation  over  themselves  in  Baptism  was  their  stay  and  their 
liope,  seemed  any  where  to  be  intimated. 

The  details  may  safely  be  left  to  be  accepted  by  every  one  as  he 
is  able  to  bear  them  :  to  judge  from  experience,  they  will,  to  any 
one  who  does  not  rudely  reject  them,  gradually  recommend  them- 
selves more  and  more  ;  but  it  is  the  principle,  rather  than  the  details, 
probably,  which,  for  the  most  part,  has  the  sanction  of  Catholic  con- 
sent. The  certainty,however,  of  the  principle  is  even  the  more  esta- 
blished by  any  variations  as  to  details;  for  we  have  not  simply  a  giv- 

by,  and  glorify  Thee.  Thou  sentest  also  Thy  Holy  Apostles,  commanding 
nhem  to  preach  and  baptize  all  nations  in  the  Name  of,"  &c.  (lb.  198,  and 
fuller  and  moTe  like  the  Greek,  ib.  206,  7.)  The  Antioch-Jerusalem  Liturgy, 
'{ib.  2iS.,)  the  Jerusalem,  (ib.  227.,)  the  Apostolic  by  Severus,  (ib.  290-)  are 
formed  upon  the  same  model,  though  verbally  differing.  The  Maronite  refers 
in  the  same  way  to  the  "  brooding  upon  the  waters."  "  As  the  Holy  Spirit  at 
the  creation  of  the  world  brooded  upon  the  waters,  and  they  produced  living 
and  creeping  things  of  every  kind,  so,  O  Lord  God,  let  the  Holy  Spirit  brood 
upon  this  Baptism,  which  is  a  spiritual  womb,  and  may  He  abide  therein, 
and  sanctify  it,  that  for  the  earthy  Adam  it  may  produce  the  heavenly  Adam." 
<Ib.  340.) 

VOL.  II, — 10> 


290 

en  number  of  types,  the  knowledge  whereof  may  have  been  secured 
by  a  general  tradition  ;  (although  with  regard  to  some  types,  there 
seems  doubtless  to  have  been  such  a  tradition)  but  we  have  also  the 
principle,  universally  felt,  that  certain  symbols,  whenever  they  occur- 
red, contained  a  hidden  intimation  of  Baptism.  In  consequence,  each 
father  selected  out  of  the  rich  abundance,  such  types  as  at  the  time 
recommended  themselves,  not  doubting  that  the  rest,  which  he  omit- 
ted, bore  the  same  reference,  but  rather  implying  that  they  did  so, 
because  the  same  principle  which  justified  those  which  he  selected, 
justified  the  others  also.  And  this  themselves  also  state  ;  thus  S.  Gre- 
gory of  Nyssa  having  given  one  of  the  fullest  selections,  breaks  off,* 
"  But  as  to  the  testimonies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  I  must  here 
close,  for  the  discourse  would  be  imbounded,  were  any  lo  wish 
to  collect  all,  and  put  them  in  one  book."  And  vS.  Ambrose,!  "An- 
other (type)  although  not  in  order  ;  for  who,  as  the  Apostle  said,  can 
comprise  all  the  acts  of  Christ?"  Yet  even  as  to  the  details, 
it  will  have  been  already  observed  that  there  is,  in  some  cases, 
much  coincidence  ;  that  the  Fathers,  who  in  general  adhered  most 
to  die  literal  interpretation,  and  its  moral  meanings,  (as  St.  Chrysos- 
tome)  yet,  when  occasion  offers,  insist  upon  the  same  types  as  do 
others  ;  and  so  little  has  this  perception  of  sacramental  types  to  do 
with  any  abuse  of  allegorical  interpretation,  that  it  will,  perhaps,  be 
found  that  those,  ever  reputed  to  be  over  fond  of  the  allegorical  in- 
terpretation (as  Origin)  have  less  of  the  sacramental,  while  those  of 
a  literal  school  (as  Theodoret)  have  much  more  of  it.  Thus,  through- 
out the  history  of  Genesis,  St.  Chrysostome  insists  on  the  ethical 
meaning  of  the  same  histories,  whose  typical  import  was  insisted  on 
(as  we  have  seen  above)  by  other  writers,  speaking  directly  on  Holy 
Baptism  ;  yet  when  he  has  to  explain  our  Lord's  appeal  to  Nicode- 
mus,  "  Art  thou  a  master  of  I&rael,  and  knowest  not  these  things  ?" 
he  understands  him  not  in  our  modern  way,  as  referring  Nicodemus 
to  certain  baptisms  of  proselytes,  but,— as  to  the  "  birth,"  to  such 
histories  of  births  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  were  above  the  laws  of 
nature, — as  to  the  means  of  that  birth  "  of  water  and  the  Spirit,"  to 
the  prophetic  intimations  of  Baptism,  in  the  typical  cleansing  by  wa- 
ter, therein  contained.  And  for  these  last  he  adduces  types  of  the 
same  sort,  as  do  others,  and  some  even  of  the  more  recondite  -.X 
"  The  first  formation  of  man,  and  the  women  produced  from  his  side^ 
and  the  barren  women  ;  and  what  was  wrought  through  water, 
(such  as  the  fountain  whence  Elisha  raised  the  iron  ;  the  Red  Sea, 
which  the  Jews  passed  over  ;  the  pool  which  the  angel  moved  ;  the 
history  of  Naman  the  Syrian,  purified  in  the  Jordan  ;)  all   these 

*  1.  c.  iii.  p.  178. 

t  De  Sacr.  ii.  4.  5  12. 

t  Chjys.  Horn.  26.  (al.  25.)  in  Joanw, 


291 

tilings  proclaimed  before,  as  in  type,  the  birth  and  purification  which 
Was  to  be  ;  and  the  things  spoken  by  the  prophets  hint  at  the  man- 
ner of  the  birth,  as  '  the  generation  to  come  shall  be  declared  to  the 
Lord,'  and  '  they  shall  declare  His  righteousness  to  a  people  which 
shall  be  born,  whom  the  Lord  hath  made,'*  that '  thy  youth  shall  be 
renewed  as  an  eagle's,^!  that  '  be  enlightened:}:  Jerusalem,'  '  behold 
thy  King  cometh,''^  and  '  blessedU  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  for- 
given.' Isaac  also  was  a  type  of  this  birth.  For  say,  O  Nicode- 
mus,  how  was  he  born?  By  the  law  of  nature?  No."  Some- 
thing moreover  of  a  consent  as  to  details  also,  may  be  seen  in  the 
types  dwelt  upon  in  the  ancient  liturgies.  The  earliest  of  our  west- 
ern Church  recognize  a  considerable  number,  which  is  the  more 
remarkable  on  account  of  their  great  brevity.  Thus,  in  that  of  Ge- 
lasius,  water  is  consecrated  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  Who  had  giv- 
en these  earnests  of  it  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  the  Son,  Who 
by  His  miracles  had  consecrated  it  in  the  New.  "  I  bless  thee,  O 
creature  of  water,  through  the  Living  God,  through  the  Holy  God, 
through  God,  Who,  in  the  beginning,  by  a  word,  separated  thee  from 
the  dry  ground, T[  and  in  four  streams  commanded  thee  to  water  the 
whole  earth  :  Who,  by  an  infused  sweetness,  made  thee,  when  bitter 
in  the  desert,  fit  to  drink  ;  and  for  the  parched  people  brought  thee 
out  of  the  rock.  I  bless  thee,  also,  through  Jesus  Christ,  His  Only 
Son,  our  Lord  :  Who  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  by  His  wondrous  power 
miraculously  changed  thee  into  wine  :  Who  with  His  feet  walked  on 
thee  ;  and  in  thee  was  by  John  baptized  in  Jordan  ;  Who,  out  of  His 
own  side,  together  with  Blood,  brought  thee  forth  ;  and  commanded 
His  disciples,  that  they  who  believed  should  be  baptized  in  thee, 
saying,  '  Go  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  Name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. '^** 

These  types,  moreover,  are  evidently  alleged  in  the  Liturgies,  as 
instances  only  ;  and  it  is  remarkable  how,  of  the  history  of  the  Cre- 
ation, different  parts  of  the  whole  are  alleged  :  in  the  Latin,  "  the 
brooding  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and  the  separation  from  the  diy  land  ; 
in  the  Greek,  the  former  is  omitted,  but  there  are  added  "  the  wa- 
ters above  the  heavens,'^  as  the  dwelling  place  of  the  heavenly  spi- 
Tits  ;  the  "  founding  of  the   earth  upon  the  waters,"  as  our  clay  de- 

*  Ps.  xxii.  32.  t  Ps.  ciii.  5. 

t  Is.  Ix.  1.  ^  Zech.  ix.  9. 

f  Ps.  xxxii.  1. 

•[[  The  Roman  Missal  inserts,  "  Whose  Spirit  was  borne  above  thee  ;  Who 
caused  thee  to  flow  from  the  fount  of  Paradise,  add,"  &c.  Ass.  ii.  4.  n. 

*'^  Ass.  ii.  3,  4.  and  less  fully,  p.  6.  Gregorian,  p.  8.  Roman,  p.  33.  (with 
the  addition  note  ^,)  and  the  verbal  difference  "thee,  being  bitter  in  the  desert, 
made,  by  wood,  sweet  and  fit  to  drink  ;  Who  brought  thee  out  of  the  rock, 
that  He  might  refresh,  when  faint  with  thirst,  the  people,  whom  He  had  freed 
from  Egypt." 


292 

rives  its  spiritual  life  from  the  waters  of  Baptism  ;  in  the  Maronite, 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  also  dwelt  upon  ;  and  so  on,  in 
slighter  variations  ;  thereby  showing,  the  more,  the  universal  con- 
viction of  the  typical  character  of  the  whole  history  of  the  waters  in; 
the  Creation,  so  that  the  striking  of  one  note  sufficed  to  bring  out 
the  harmon)^  of  ihe  whole.  It  is  remarkable  too  how  some  of  the 
less  obvious  types  occur  when  one  should  least  expect  them,^  and 
where  they  yield  most  independent  evidence }  as  the  sacrifice  of 
Elijah  in  the  Coptic  Liturgy,  where  it  is  altogether  distinct  from  the 
Greek.  Typical  histories,  again,  are  selected  as  lessons,  and  in  this 
way  also  are  formally  adopted  in  the  respective  Churches.* 

The  same  principle  which  requires  us  not  t«  restrain  the  types  of 
things,  to  such  as  have  been  laid  down  for  us  in  the  New  Testament^ 
will  apply  yet  more  forcibly  to  the  verbal  allusions  to  those  types. 
Since  the  flood,  and  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Levitical 
washings,  or  sprinklings,  were  (as  we  know)  types  of  Baptism,  then 
the  passages  of  the  Prophets,  which  relate  to  these,  must  relate  also 
to  Baptism.  The  words  wherein  they  are  spoken  of,  must  bear  the 
same  relation  as  the  things  of  which  they  speak.  The  words  are  au- 
thentic interpretations  given  by  the  prophets  to  the  typical  actions  y 
the  actions  set  before  the  eyes  the  teaching  of  the  words.  It  were^ 
then,  obviously  inconsistent  in  any  one,  who  accepts  the  typical 
meaning,  given  by  Holy  Scriptui'e  to  certain  acts  or  events,  to  in- 
terpret, without  any  reference  to  this  authenticated  meaning,  other 
language  of  the  Divine  Record,  framed  upon  those  same  events. — 
Having  the  comment  supplied  to  us  in  the  one  case,  we  are  no 
longer  at  liberty,  (if  we  would,)  to  disregard  it  in  the  other.  Thus,, 
since  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  is  typical  of  Baptism,  the  over- 
whelming of  the  enemy  in  the  sea,  of  the  effacing  of  sin  and  the  de- 
liverance from  Satan,  then,  when  the  Prophet  Micah  (after  the  man- 
ner of  the  prophets,)  para-llels  the  future  deliverance  with  the  past, 
the  days  of  the  Gospel  with  "  the  days  of  their  coming  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt  ;"t  and  then  prophesies  that  God  would  "  cast^  all 
their  iniquities  into  the  depths  of  ihe  sea  ;"  on  no  consistent  system 
of  interpretation  can  he  be  understood  otherwise  than  he  was  in  the 
ancient  Church,  as  prophesying  of  the  remission  of  sin  in  Baptism. §■ 

*  Thus  St.  Ambrose  mentions  that  the  history  of  Naaman  was  used  as  a 
Baptismal  lesson  in  his  Church  (Milan.)  De  Myster.  ^  16.  de  Sacram.  i.  5. 
and  the  cure  at  Bethesda ;  "what  was  read  yesterday."  De  Sacram.  ii.  2.- 
The  argument  from  the  lessons  generally  was  appreciated  in  the  ancient 
Church.  S.  Optatus  appeals  to  the  "unity  of  the  life  in  the  Church,  the  com- 
mon lessons,  the  one  Faith,  the  same  sacrament  of  Faith,  the  same  myste- 
ries." v.  1. 

+  vii.  15.  J  ver.  19. 

^  "  Micah  prophesies  of  the  grace  of  Baptism."  Jer.  ad  Oe.    So  also  S, 


293 

Inwliat  way  Baptism  may  be  available  to  the  baptized  for  sins  af- 
terwards Goramitted,  what  further  privileges  it  may  introduce  them 
to,  is  obviously  a  further  and  secondary  question.  Whatever  privi- 
leges may  be  wrapt  up  in  Baptism,  the  primary  meaning  of  the  pro- 
phet's declaration  must  be  the  plenary  destruction  of  our  enemies 
through  that  which  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  denoted,  i,  e.  as  we 
know  from  Holy  Scripture  itself,  the  sacrament  of  Baptism,  Yet  it 
is  fiom  neglecting  so  obvious  a  rule,  that  the  modern  unsacramental 
theory,  without  compunction,  effaces  from  the  Old  Testament  the 
predictions  of  our  Lord's  ordinances  ;  claims,  without  hesitation,  for 
the  older  dispensation,  the  privileges  of  the  New  ;  and  then  for  itself, 
under  the  New,  these  same  full  privileges,  without  any  reference  to 
1;he  ordinances  to  which  they  are  annexed.  Thus,  when  Ezekiel, 
a  priest,  prophesies,  "  Then*  will  I  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you, 
and  ye  shall  be  clean ;  a  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a 
new  spirit  will  I  put  witliin  you ;  and  I  will  put  my  Spirit  within 
yon,"  he  is  plainly  to  be  understood,  (as  antiquity  understood  him,) 
to  be  foretelling  the  birth  "  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,"  which  ef- 
faces in  us  the  stains  of  our  old  nature,  and  "  renews  us  in  the  image 
of  Him  who  created  us.'"  Thus  each  part  of  this  prophecy  has  its 
'fulfilment :  he  plainly  refers  to  the  Levitical  washings,  whereof  he 
Avas  a  minister,  and  so  points  to  some  act  corresponding  with  them  ; 
t)ut  foretells  that  it  shall  not  be,  like  these, — unprofitable  ;  but  that 
when  bedewed  with  the  water,  their  "  consciences"  should  be 
'*' sprinkled"  also  ;  that  they  should  be  sprinkled  not  with  the  water 
only,  but  with  water  accompanied  by  the  Spirit.  The  prophet  thus 
provided  a  remedy  for  the  difficulties  of  Nicodemus  ;  and  masters  in 
Israel,  who  with  Nicodemus,  might  otherwise  have  stumbled  at  the 
birth  of  "  water  and  the  Spirit,"  had  its  meaning  laid  up  for  them  in 
their  own  prophets;  St.  Jeromet  gives  the  connection  of  the  passage 
very  clearly ;  "  Which  when  I  had  seen,  not  for  their  sakes,  but  for 
■my  Holy  Name  (for  I  am  Creator  of  all)  I  spared  them,  and  sancti- 
fied them,  aud  restored  them  to  their  former  glory,  so  as  to  'pour 
upon^  those  who  believed,  and  were  converted  from  erring,  the  '  clean 
water^  of  saving  Baptism,  and  cleanse  them  from  their  abominations, 
and  all  their  errors,  and  to  give  them  a  '  new  heart,'  that  they  should 
Relieve  on  the  Son  of  God,  and  a  'new  spirit,'  whereof  David  speaks.| 

Basil  in  Ps.  28.  \  8.  "And  their"  [the  Jews']  '*  sins  the  Lord  cast  into  the 
depth  of  the  sea,  but  ours  He  effaces  through  the  holy  and  Divine  bath,  where- 
of the  Red  sea,  according  to  the  Divine  apostle  was  a  type,  passing  through' 
which,  they  were  freed  from  the  Egyptian  bondage.  According  to  that  type 
let  us  also,  freed  from  the  tyranny  of  the  devil,  through  the  holy  bath,  be 
^careful  for  our  salvation,"  &c.  Theodoret  ad  loc.  Its  language  is  used  in  an 
■ancient  MS,  of  the  Greek  liturgy-  (Ass.  ii.  131.)  See  also  S.  Ambrose,  be- 
iow,  p.  299. 

*  xxxvi.  25—27.  f  Ad  loc. 

-J  Ps.  li.  12. 


294 

And  it  is  to  be  considered,  that  the  '  new  heart/  and  '  new  spirit,' 
are  given  through  the  affusion  and  aspersion  of  water.  But  when  a 
'new  heart,'  and  '  new  spirit,'  shall  have  been  given,  then  shall  all 
hardness,  which  is  compared  to  a  stone,  be  taken  away  from  the 
heart  of  the  Jew,  that  for  a  '  stony  heart,'  there  should  be  a  '  heart  of 
flesh,'  tender  and  soft,  which  can  receive  the  Spirit  of  God  within  it, 
and  be  inscribed  with  wholesome  words.  Then  shall  they  walk  in 
the  commands  of  the  Lord,  and  keep  His  judgments,  and  dwell," 
&c.  And  Theodoret,*  '  Pure  water,'  he  calls  the  water  of  regene- 
ration, wherein  being  baptized,  we  received  remission  of  sins  ;  and 
what  follows  confirms  this  :  '  And  I  will  give  you  a  new  heart,' 
hereby  denoting  the  change  of  mind  ;  for  the  mind  shall  incline  to 
the  better,  not,  according  to  the  former  wont,  to  the  worse." 

On  the  same  ground,  since  the  many  Levitical  baptisms  for  the 
cleansing  of  the  flesh  shadowed  forth  the  one,  which  "  cleansed  both 
flesh  and  spirit,"  David's  prayer  "  wash  me  thoroughly  from  my 
"wickedness,  and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin,"  and  his  prophecy  of 
God's  future  blessing,  "  Thou  shalt  purge  me  with  hyssop,  and  I 
shall  be  clean  ;  Thou  shalt  wash  me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than 
snow,"  being  in  the  language  of  the  symbols  of  the  law,  are  plainly 
to  be  understood  of  that  which  those  symbols  foretold.  The  Ancient 
Church,  then,  doubted  not  at  all,  but  that  David  meant  the  same  as 
St.  Paul,  and  finding  no  remedy  under  the  law  for  his  grievous  sins, 
but  "  knowingt  that  the  New  Testament  has  a  perfect  remission  of 
sins,  desiring  to  be  most  speedily  and  perfectly  freed  from  sins,  and 

*  Ad  loc.  The  passage  is  quoted  by  the  Council  under  S.  Cyprian,  Ep.  70, 
(69,)  and  alleged  by  S.  Cyprian  himself,  in  proof  of  the  validity  of  aspersion, 
Ep.  76  (75,)  "  Nor  ought  it  to  trouble  any,  that  the  sick,  when  they  obtain  the 
grace  of  the  Lord,  are  seen  to  receive  it  by  aspersion  or  affusion  ;  sines 
Holy  Scripture  by  the  prophet  Ezekiel  says, '  I  will  sprinkle  clean  v/ater  upon 
you,'  [combining  the  passage  with  the  Levitical  aspersions,  Numb.  xix.  12,13  ; 
viii.  6,  7 ;  xix.  9.]  "  Whence,"  he  adds,  "  it  appears  that  water  when  sprinkled 
also,  suffices  for  the  saving  laver."  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  speaking  of  Bap- 
tism, says,  Ezekiel  writing  more  clearly  and  perspicuously  than  either,  (Is.  i. 
Ps.  xxxii.)  promises  that  excellent  promise."  (de  Bapt.  Christi,  p.  377.)  St. 
Jerome  (ad  Ocean.)  cites  it  in  proof  of  the  completeness  of  the  remission  in 
Baptism,  "  Let  us  hear  Ezekiel,  the  son  of  man,  how  he  speaks  of  His  virtue. 
Who  was  to  be  the  Son  of  Man — In  that  he  saith,  '  I  will  cleanse  you  from  all 
sins,'  none  is  excluded."  It  is  quoted  by  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Lect.  iii.  16; 
xvi.  30 ;  and  S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  in  connection  with  the  Levitical  washings 
(Glaph.  in  Levit.  i.  368.)  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25.  is  used  as  an  antiphone  in  the  Rod- 
man Baptismal  Office  (Ass.  ii.  21.  ;)  in  the  Gellone  ritual  an  antiphone  is 
formed  out  of  ver.  23 — 26  ;  and  ver.  25 — 28.  are  read  as  a  lesson  (ib.  54,  55.) 
as  they  are  also  in  the  Armenian  (ib.  195,  6.  206. ;)  ver.  23—28.  in  that  for 
Catechumens  in  an  old  Office  of  Poictiers  (ib.  i.  65.,)  and  Viete  (ib.  70. ;)  ver. 
25.  seq.  in  another  service  in  the  same  MS.  (ib.  73.,)  and  the  ritual  of  Liege 
(ib.  83.  ;)  ver.  25 — 29.  are  also  a  lesson  in  that  of  Card.  Severini  formed  from 
ancient  sources,  (ib.  91.) 

t  Theodoret  in  Ps.  50.  fin. 


295 

himself  also  to  receive  that  compendious  and  bounteous  cleansing, 
speaks  thus,  '  Thou*  shall  sprinkle  me  with  hyssop,'  &c.  for  the  gift 
of  Baptism  alone  can  effect  this  cleansing,  and  the  Lord  of  the  Uni- 
verse promised  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  that  He  would  give  it ;  for 
having  said,  'wash  you,  make  you  clean,  put  away  the  wickedness 
from  your  hearts  ;'  a  little  after  he  says,  '  though  your  sins  be  as 
scarlet,  I  will  make  thee  white  as  snow ;'  and  this  the  great  David 
himself  also  foretels,  in  the  67th  [68th]  Psalm,  '  When  the  Most 
High  disperseth  kings,  they  shall  be  made  like  snow  in  Salmon.' 
This  then  he  says  here  also,  that  I  need  the  grace  which  shall  be 
given  to  all  men.  For  that  only  can  '  thoroughly  wash  me,'  and  give 
me  the  whiteness  of  snow.  And,  that  hyssop  eifected  no  remission 
of  sins,  may  be  easily  learnt  from  the  Mosaic  writings.  For  the 
murderer,  and  the  adulterous  despoiler,  the  law  purified  not  with 
sprinklings,  but  subjected  to  the  -extremest  punishment.  The  hys- 
sop, then,  is  a  figure  of  somewhat  else.  For  in  Egypt,  having 
sprinkled  the  blood  of  the  lamb  on  the  door-posts,  they  escaped  the 
hands  of  the  destroyer^  But  those  things  were  types  of  the  saving 
Passion.  For  then  also  was  Blood,  and  the  saving  wood,  and  sal- 
vation bestowed  on  those  who  approach  with  faith."  "  Holy  David, 
tlie  prophet,"  says  St.  Ambrose,!  "  saw  this  grace  in  a  figure,  and 

*  Id.  on  ver.  8. 

t  De  Sacr.  iv.  1.  §  6.  Again,  Apol.  David  §  59.  "  He  maketh  not  void  the  sacra- 
ments of  tlie  Old  Testament,  and  he  teaches  that  the  Evangelic  mysteries  are  to  be 
preferred  ;  he  prays  to  be  cleansed  with  hyssop  according  to  the  law,  he  longs  to  be 
washed  according  to  the  Gospel,  and  looks,  if  he  be  washed,  to  be  made  '  whiter  than 
snow.'  Whoso  wished  to  be  cleansed  by  the  typical  baptism,  was  sprinkled  with  the 
blood  of  a  lamb  by  means  of  a  bunch  of  hyssop  ;  he  is  '  washed,'  who  is  cleansed  in  the 
stream  of  the  eternal  fountain  ;  and  he  is  made  'whiter  than  snow'  whose  sins  are  forgiven 
him."  And  (§  64.)  "  There  follows  '  create  in  me  a  clean  heart.'  Elsewhere  he  had 
pjayed  to  be  '  cleansed  from  secret  faults ;'  here  he  prays  that  he  may  have  '  a  clean 
heart'  created  in  him,  which  is  wrought  for  him  who  is  renewed  in  spirit  ;  for  in  the 
new  man  there  is  a  clean  heart,  the  filthy  horde  of  ancient  sins  having  been  effaced,  and 
no  image  of  sin  remaining  impressed  thereon."  Comp.  de  Myst.  c.  7.  §  34.  The 
Psalm  is  interpreted  in  this  same  way  by  Origen  or  Eusebius,  ad  loc.  (the  same  words 
are  given  to  both,)  "Observe,  again,  the  mystery  of  Christ.  For  the  power  of  baptism 
exceeding  the  purification  in  the  law,  effecteth  the  cleansing  of  the  soul  also."  St. 
Athanasius,  *'  He  introduces  a  prophecy  of  the  universal  remission  of  sins  through 
Holy  Baptism,  and  the  teaching  of  the  worship  in  the  Spirit."  (ap.  Caten.  Corderii.) 
And  "  He  mentions  also  the  redemption  through  Baptism,  in  that  he  says,  '  Thou  shalt 
sprinkle  me.'  "  (ap.  Montfauc.  Coll.  Nov.  t.  2.  p.  65.)  And  St.  Cyril  of  Ahxandrta, 
"  When  he  says,  *  wash  me  more,'  he  again  probably  refers  to  the  mystery  in  Christ. 
For  the  law  also  had  a  cleansing  by  water,  which  the  a  11- wise  Paul  mentions,  '  for  if  the 
blood  of  bulls,'  &c.  But  the  type  wasinsuflicient  for  the  washing  a^ray  of  sin,  and  was 
practised  only  for  the  cleansing  of  the  flesh ;  but  that  power  which  we  have  of  Christ 
and  through  Holy  Baptism,  far  excelling  the  cleansing  in  the  law,  washeth  yet  more,  or 
rather  effects  an  entire  cleansing.'^  (ap.  Corder.)  and  Hesychius  (ibid.)  "As  we  also  in 
the  gift  of  Baptism  are  washed  with  water,  but  made  bright  through  the  Spirit."  Add 
Jerome  in  Zach.  siii.  1.  Hyppolyhis  in  Theoph.  (see  above,  p.  284.)  In  the  Liturgies, 
ver.  2.  occurs  as  an  Antiphone  in  an  ancient  MS.  of  the  Sacramentary  of  Gelasius 
(Ass.  ii.  8.  not.)  ;  and  ver.  8 — 10.  are  repeated  in  the  Coptic  (ib.  179.)  -,  the  whole 
Psalm  at  the  beginning  of  the  Armenian  (ib.  202.) ;  and  the   Coptic  (ib.  i.  143.)  ;  as 


1  Be- 
longed for  it.     Wliy  ?  because  snow  though  white,  soon  blackens- 
and  is  spoiled  by  any  defilement ;  that  grace  which  thou  hast  receiv- 
ed, if  thou  hold  fast  what  thou  hast  received,  will  be  lasting  and  eter- 
nal." 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  same  Psalm^  so  deeply  expressive  of 
David's  own  contrition  for  his  great  personal  sins,  also  contains  one 
of  the  most  exact  confessions  of  original  sin,  and  its  hereditary  taint,* 
and  then  a  prophecy  of  the  cleansing  of  sin,  both  original  and  actual 
through  Baptism,  as  applying  the  Blood  of  the  Great  Sacrifice  ;•  and 
the  prayer  for  re-creation  or  re-generation,  and  for  the  building  up 
of  the  Church,  and  of  individuals  in  it  ;t  so  that  it  is  not  only  a  most 
deep  penitential  Psalm,  but  a  history  (so  to  say)  of  the  scheme  of 
man's  redemption;  the  account  of  his  fallen  state  and  restoration. 
As  was  said,  it  may  (and  does,,  in  our  way,)  include  under  it  the  ease 
of  the  individual  penitent  under  the  Gospel,  as  it  did  that  of  David 
before  it ;.  it  may  also  ulteriorly  refer  to  the  great  and  final  cleansing 
at  the  great  Day,  of  all  who  shall  be  "  found  in  Him  ;"  but,  prima- 
rily, it  is  the  account  of  the  foil  and  entire  remission  of  all  sins^ 
"  through  the  laver  of  regeneration  and  of  the  renewal  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  It  is  only  through  overlooking  the  sacramental  character 
of  the  types,  that  the  appropriateness  of  its  language  has  been  neg- 
lected, and  its  promises  been  appropriated  primarily  -to  a  forgiveness 
mdependent  of  ordinances. 

Sa  again  the  prophet  Isaiah,  when,  in  the  name  of  God,  rejecting 
the  polluted  services  of  Judah,  he  points  to- them  a  new  way,  "wash 
you, I  make  you  clean,"  and  promises  them  an  entire  cleansing,., 
"  though^  your  s-ins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool,"  what  CISC' 
does  he  than  prophecy  of  that  which  these  services  foreshadowed  T 
"  Having,""  says  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  |1  "brought  their  ungodli- 

also  ver.  lO — 12.  in  a-  prayer  at  the  close  (H.  193.) ;  ver.  7.  in  the  Syriac  (Apost.  by 
Severus,  ii.  274.)  ;  and  the  words,  ''  sanctify,  cleanse,  purge  him  with  Thy  holy 
hyssop,"  are  taken  from  it:  (ib.  268,  " with  thy  ain-reinitting  hyssop."  Apost.  from 
Greek,  by  Jamesof  Ede9sa,ib.  i.  263.)  In  the  JViisro?ii<e,  our  Lord  Himself  is  ''prayed" 
as  "the  Hyssop,  cleansing  and  whitening  all  stains"  (ib.  ii.  329) ;  and  St.  Cyril  of  Je- 
rusalem, in  like  way  alludes  to  the  Psalm  CLect.  iii.  1.)  "  'Let  the  heavens  rejoice, and 
I'et  the  earth  be  glad'  for  those  who  are  to  be  sprinkled  with  hyssop,  to  be  cleansed  witb 
the  inTisible  hyssop,  by  His  power.  Who  at  His  Passion  received  the  hyssop  and  the 
reed."  Ver.  10.  is  inserted  in  the  prayer  i'or  Catechumen.^i  in  the  ritual  in  the  Apos- 
tolic Constitutions :  "  Almighty  God,  unbegotten  and  unapproachable,  the  only  true 
God,  look  upon  Thy  servants  instructed  in  the  Gospel  of  Thy  Christ,  and  give  them  '  a 
new  heart,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within'  them,  that  they  may  knov?  and  do  Tliy  will, 
<&c."  L.  viii.  c.  ff.  And  ver.  .12.  in  the  prayer  just  before  baptism,  "that  God  who- 
loveth  mankind,  having  graciously  received  their  prayers,  may  '  restore'  to  them  '  the 
joy  of  salvation,  and  establish  them  with  a  princely  spirit,'  that  they  may  never  agaiabe 
shaken."  (ib.  c.  %.) 

*  Ver.  5.  t  Ver.  18,  19. 

t  Is.  i.  16.  §  Ver,  Ift. 

U   Ad  loc. 


297 

ness  to  their  recollection,  he  will  not  have  them  despair,  and  does 
not  exclude  them  from  the  gift  of  Christ  set  forth  through  the  whole 
world  ;  he  bids  them  cast  away  their  sins,  justified  freely,  and  not 
by  the  works  of  the  law,  but  rather  through  faith  and  holy  Baptism. 
Therefore,  he  says,  'wash  you,'  i.  e.  wash  away  your  stains,  He 
Whom  you  reviled,  justifying  you  tlirough  his  greatness  and  good- 
ness." And  Theodoret,*  in  connection  with  the  51st  Psalm,  "  As 
by  the  mouth  of  David,  rejecting  sacrifices  of  this  sort,  He  bade 
them  "  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise,'  so  here  also  casting  away  all 
these  rites,  He  points  out  to  them  the  Baptism  of  incorruption  and 
regeneration,  saying,  'wash  you,  make  you  clean ;'  and  that  they  may 
not  think  that  He  enjoined  them  the  use  of  their  wonted  sprinklings, 
He  added,  of  necessity,  '  Put  away,'  &;c.  ;  which  words  obviously 
hint  at  the  gifts  of  all-holy  Baptism." 

*  Be  cur.  Graec.  aff.  Disp.  7.  See  also  above  on  Ps.  51.  and  ad  loc,  he  paraphra- 
ses, "Therefore  cleanse  your  souls  thoroughly  by  the  laver  of  regeneration,  and  cease 
to  do  evil  ;  for  having  laid  aside  the  former  thev  must  avoid  doing  the  like."  It  is  quo- 
ted also  by  Justin  Martyr,  Apol.  i.  §  61.  and  Dial.  c.  Tryph.  §  13.  "  Isaiah  sent  not 
you  (the  Jews]  to  the  bath,  there  to  wash  away  murder  and  other  sins,  which  not  the 
whole  water  of  the  sea  would  suffice  to  cleanse  ;  but,  of  old,  it  was  this  same  saving 
bath,  which  be  preached  to  those  who  repent,  and  who  are  no  longer  cleansed  by  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  but  by  faith  in  the  Blood  of  Christ,  and  in  His  Death."  St. 
Ambrose,  de  Myst.  §  34.  (speaking  of  Baptism),  "  He  is  whitened  more  than  snow 
whose  sins  are  forgiven,  wherefore  also  the  Lord  says  by  Esaias,"  &c.  Jerome,  ad,  loc. 
"  In  lieu  of  the  former  victims,  and  whole-burnt-offering,  and  fat  of  fed  beasts,  and 
blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  and  incense,  and  new  moons,  sabbath,  festival,  and  fasts,  I 
delight  in  the  service  of  the  Gospel,  that  ye  should  be  baptized  in  My  Blood,  through 
'  the  laver  of  regeneration,'  which  alone  can  remit  sins.  For  '  unless  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  the  Spirit,'  &c.  The  Lord  Himself  also,  when  ascending  to  the  Father, 
saith,  '  Go  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them,'  "  &c.  In  like  way  Eusebius  (ad  loc. 
Montfauc.  Coll.  Nov.  T.  2.  p.  360.)  He  yet  intiteth  them  to  good  hopes,  if  laying 
aside  wickedness,  and  departing  from  the  will-worship  in  the  carnal  law,  they  would  be- 
come obedient  to  the  new  covenant,  and  the  new  law,  and  word.  Wherefore,  having 
glanced  at  the  things  in  the  Old  Covenant,  he  introduces  the  Mysteries  of  the  New. 
Which  himself  also  delivered  in  the  Gospel,  saying,  '  Except  a  man  be  born  again  of 
water  and  the  Spirit,"  &c.  And  <S'.  Hyp-polytus  having  quoted  it  (Hom.  in  Theoph. 
§  9.),  thus  comments,  "  See,  beloved,  how  the  prophet  foretold  the  cleansing  of  Bap- 
tism. For  whoso  descends  with  faith  into  the  '  laver  of  regeneration,  renounces  the 
evil  one,  and  is  placed  on  the  side  of  Christ,  denies  the  Enemy,  and  confesses  that 
Chri.st  is  God  ;  jiuts  off  slavery,  and  puts  on  adoption  ;  returns  from  Baptism,  bright 
as  the  sun,  gleaming  with  the  rays  of  righteousness  ;  and,  what  is  most,  ascends  a  son  of 
God,  and  '  joint-heir  with  Christ.'  "  It  is  quoted  also  by  S.  Gregory  Nyss.  de  Bapt. 
Christi.T.  3.  p  377.;  is  the  text  of  .S'.  Cyril  of  Jeriisalem''s  first  C&lechet.D'tsc;  whence 
it  was  probably  a  Baptismal  lesson  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  as  it  certainly  was  in  that 
of  Si.  Basil  (Hom.  de  S.  Bapt.  T.  ii.  p.  114.),  who  appeals  to  its  having  been  "  read." 
It  occurs  also  as  a  lesson  in  the  service  for  Catechumens,  MS.  of  Vietri  (Ass.  i.  70.), 
and  Liege  (ib.  83.)  It  is  quoted,  as  a  ground  for  Baptism,  in  the  prayer  just  preceding 
Baptism  in  the  Apostol.  Consit.  viii.  8.  "Thou,  Who  didst  by  Thy  holy  prophets  de- 
clare beforehand  to  such  as  should  be  baptized,  '  wash  ye,  become  clean,'  and  didst  by 
Christ,  ordain  spiritual  regeneration."  And  so  in  the  Greek  (Ass.  ii.  138.),  and  Syriac 
(Antioch  and  Jerus.  Ass.  ii.  220.  Jerusalem,  ib.  231.  and  259.  and  Apostolic  by  Seve- 
rus,  ib.  291.)  and  in  a  distinct  prayer  for  Catechumens  in  the  revised  Syriac,  (i.  223.) 
'•  And  when  Thou  broughtest  us  to  the  streams  of  redemption,  and  fount  of  life,  and 
thence  madest  us  of  Thy  household  and  beloved^  Thou  saidst,  '  Wash  ye,'  "  &c.  ' 


298 

It  obviously  belongs  to  the  same  system  of  interpretation,  that  the 
imfigurative  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  ini- 
quity is  forgiven,"  are,  by  the  Ancient  Church,  interpreted  of  the 
remission  of  sins  in  Baptism.*  The  interpretation  is  suggested  and 
authorized  by  the  plain  declarations  of  the  New  Testament,  "  Be 
baptized  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  as  the  former  were  by  the  typi- 
cal ;  and  while  they  are  respectively  borne  out  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment, they  mutually  confirm  each  other  ;  and  together  exhibit  the 
more  clearly,  the  system  of  the  Ancient  Church  :  how  she  looked 
upon  all  full  declarations  of  the  remission  of  sin,  as  prophetic  of  the 
Gospel,  and  the  means  whereby  it  was  there  to  be  bestowed.  The 
longing  of  the  Old  Testament,  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  iniquity 
is  forgiven  ;"  the  promise  of  the  N"ew,  "  Be  baptized  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  ;"  St.  Paul's  declaration,  that  the  Psalmist's  words  be- 
long to  the  Gospel,  and  not  to  the  law  :  and  the  belief  of  the  Church, 
"  I  believe  one  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  ;"  mutually  harmo- 
nize with,  and  explain  each  other. 

It  may  be  observed  also,  however  foreign  this  interpretation  of  the 
Church,  which  supposes  the  patriarch  David  to  look  forward  to  the 
remission  in  Baptism,  may  to  any,  at  first  sight,  seem,  yet  it  agrees 
most  with  the  very  letter  of  St.  Paul,  "  David  also  describeth  the 
blessedness  of  the  man  unto  w^homthe  Lord  imputeth  righteousness 
without  works."  "  He  confessed  his  sin,"  says  S.  Ambrose,!  "  he 
acknowledged  his  iniquity;  he  saw  the  laver,  and  he  saw  and  be- 
lieved. He  loved  much,  so  as  by  exceeding  love  he  might  hide  any 
sins." 

*  The  Psalm  is  sung  in  the  Greek  Liturgy,  as  a  thanksgiving  immediately  after  Bap- 
tism (Ass.  ii.  145.)  and  ver.  1.  is  thrice  repeated  in  the  same  place,  in  that  of  Antioch 
and  Jerusalem  (ib.  226.)  ;  ver.  1,  2.  are  sung  in  the  Coptic  (ib.  154).  This  use  of  the 
psalm  is  probably  alluded  to  by  >S.  Athanasius,  "  When  thou  seest  persons  baptized,  and 
redeemed  from  their  corniptible  birth,  and  admirest  the  love  of  God  for  man,  sing  for 
:hem  the  3lst  [32ndl.  "  Ep.  ad  MarccUin,  §  18.  (on  the  use  of  the  Psalms)  ;  and  by 
iS.  Cyril^  of  Jerus.  "long  for  that  glorious  sound,  which,  after  your  salvation,  the  an- 
gels shall  chant  over  you,  '  Blessed  are  they,'  "  &c.  (Procatech.  §  15.)  and  again, 
"that  the  company  of  angels  may  chant  over  you."  (Lect.  i.  1.)  It  is  quoted  by  S. 
Gregory  of  Naziamum,  Oral.  xl.  §  32.  S.  Jerome,  ad  Oc.  §  7.  and  c.  Pelag.  iii.  15. 
"  Arising  out  of  the  fount  of  Baptism,  and  having  been  regenerate  to  the  Lord,  the  Sa- 
viour, and  that  having  been  fulfilled,  which  was  written  of  them,  '  Blessed  are  they,'  " 
&c.  and  ver.  6.  by  S.  Basil,  de  S.  Bapt.  T.  i.  p.  123.  Zeno,  Serm.  2.  ad  Neoph.  Bibl. 
Patr.  T.  iii.  col.  395.  S.  Chrysostome,  above,  p.  291.     See  also  Note  below  and  p.  2J9. 

t  (S.  Ambrose,  Apol.  David,  §  40.  "  David  having  afflicted  himself  much  for 
his  oflfence,  and  having  uttered  the  words  in  the  30th  [31st]  Psalm,  meditating 
on,  and  dreading  the  judgment  of  God  for  the  things  whereof  he  was  conscious, 
then  knowing,  through  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  prophetic  power,  the  remission 
of  sins  which  there  was  to  be  for  all  men,  and  that  the  idolaters  and  ungodly 
from  among  the  heathen,  entangled  with  countless  sins,  should  obtain  a  full 
remission,  through  the  washing  of  regeneration,  pronounces  them  thrice  blessed. 
For  I,  he  says,  wasted  with  groans,  and  frequent  tears  for  sin,  and  falling  into 
troubles  of  all  kinds,  for  it,  pronounce  them  happy  and  enviable,  who  tlirough 


299 

This  full  conviction  of  the  Ancient  Church  is  the  more  illustrated 
by  a  degree  of  difference*  as  to  the  details,  as  showing  that  their 
agreement  to  be  independent.  Their  interpretation  was  not  borrow- 
ed from  each  other,  else  had  it  been  altogether  uniform  ;  it  was  not 
incidental,  but  must  have  proceeded  at  least  from  the  vdo;  of  the 
Church,  if  not  from  actual  tradition,  else  had  not  its  characteristic 
features  been  the  same. 

Since,  again,  the  water  which  issued  from  His  Side  was,  (as  our 
Church  confesses)  a  symbol  of  our  cleansing  Baptism,  and  connected 
with  it,  then,  when  Zechariah,  having  prophesied  of  that  piercing  of 

the  loving  kindness  of  God  obtain  without  suffering,  forgiveness  of  sins.  For 
so  bounteous  is  He  to  them,  as  not  only  to  forgive,  but  to  cover  their  sins, 
and  not  leave  even  the  trace  of  them."  JEusebius,  ad  loc.  ap.  Montf.  Coll.  Nov. 
The  last  words,  "  For  I,"  &c.  occur  also  in  Theodoret,  ad  loc.  who,  in  like 
way,  looks  upon  the  psalm  as  predictive,  "  This  psalm  also  was  uttered  amid 
those  troubles,  and  foreseeing  with  prophetic  eyes,  the  grace  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  the  remission  bestowed  upon  believers  through  all-holy  Baptism, 
he  pronounces  them  blessed,  as  receiving  freedom  from  sin  without  troubles." 
Eusebius  adds  on  ver.  2.  "  But  because  every  one  who  cometh  to  the  forgive- 
ness given  through  Baptism  shall  obtain  it  through  confession  of  the  Saviour, 
and  faith  in  the  God  of  all,  and  sincere  confession,  it  is  added  very  accurately, 
'  and  in  whose  mouth  there  is  no  guile.'  For  he  is  blessed,  who,  with  a  pure 
spirit  and  true  mouth  maketh  the  confession,  and  uttereth  the  words  at  the 
washing  of  regeneration." 

*  The  variation  relates  to  this,  whether  the  psalm  contains  also  a  reference 
to  forgiveness  upon  repentance,  and  if  so,  in  which  part  of  it.  For  the  most 
part  it  is  used  without  distinction  of  Baptism  (see  notes  on  page  298.)  some, 
however,  refer  the  first  clause,  ''  Blessed  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  for- 
given," to  Baptism ;  the  latter,  "and  whose  sins  are  covered,"  to  remission  up- 
on subsequent  repentance  ;  otliers  apply  the  first  verse  to  Baptism,  the  second, 
"  Blessed  is  the  man  to  whom  the  Lord  doth  not  impute  sin,"  to  repentance. 
The  former  way  is  taken  by  Origen  (ad  loc.  T.  2.)  "  Iniquities  are  remitted 
through  Holy  Baptism,  and  sins  are  covered  by  the  bitter  repentance  from 
sins."  (The  same  is  given  to  S.  Athanasius,  T.  i.  p.  1050,  and  in  Corderius' 
Catena,  as  the  opinion  of  others,  reported  by  Origen.)  And  S.  Ambrose,  Ep. 
70.  \  23.  "  As  thou  didst  drown  all  our  iniquities  in  the  sea,  like  the  lead  of 
Egypt  (Ex.  XV.  20.,) — and  hast  freely  turned  to  mercy,  which  Thou  hast  be- 
stowed by  a  two-fold  gift,  '  forgiving  sins,'  and  '  covering'  them,  according  to 
what  is  written,  '  Blessed,'  &c.  For  some  Thou  grantest  us  to  be  washed 
away  in  the  Blood  of  Thy  Son,  others  Thou  remittest  to  us,  hiding  our  errors 
by  good  deeds  and  confessions."  And  de  Pojnit.  ii.  §  35.  "  He  pronounces 
both  happy,  both  him  whose  iniquity  is  remitted  by  the  laver,  and  whose  sin 
is  covered  by  good  works.  For  whoso  repents  must  not  only  wash  away  his 
sin  with  tears,  but  also  by  amended  deeds  cover  and  hide  his  former  offences, 
that  sin  may  not  be  imputed  to  him."  Again,  Apol.  David,  \  49,  50.  where 
he  mentions  the  other  interpretation,  "  Iniquity  (which  is  the  most  grievous) 
is  remitted  by  the  laver ;  sin  is  covered  by  good  deeds,  and  overshadowed  as 
it  were  by  other  works.  For  '  charity'  concealeth  error,  and  '  hideth  a  multi- 
tude of  sins.'  Charity  also  remitteth  many  even  of  sins,  as  is  written  of  the 
woman,  who  poured  ointment  on  the  Lord,  '  Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are 
forgiven ;  for  she  loved  much.'  But  there  are  also  who  interpret  the  first 
verse  of  the  laver,  the  second  of  repentance.." 


300 

His  Side,*  goes  onf  to  say,  "  In  that  day  there  shall  be  a  fountain 
open  to  the  house  of  David,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  for  sin 
and  for  uncleanness,"  it  is  plain  that  he  prophesies  not  of  a  remission 
of  sins,  generally,  but  of  one  to  be  obtained  through  the  Sacrament, 
which  issued  from  that  Side.  Thus  S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,:}:  "  But 
to  her  dwellers  in  the  spiritual  Jerusalem,  i.  e.  the  city  of  Judah, 
that  is,  of  Christ,  there  shall  be  in  every  place  a  fountain,  springing 
up  with  the  water  of  purification,  i.  e.  plainly.  Holy  Baptism,  chang- 
ing the  Jews  from  the  law  to  the  life  in  Christ,  from  the  type  and 
the  letter  to  a  spiritual  service  ;  the  Greek  from  unbelief  to  belief  in 
Christ,  from  the  greatest  darkness  to  the  clear  knowledge  of  the  true 
God,  from  darkness  to  light ;  and  both  together  from  the  things  of 
the  llesh  to  live  holily  and  purely  and  walk  in  the  Spirit — from  re- 
garding the  things  of  the  world  to  love  those  above  the  world.  But 
that  when  we  receive  Holy  Baptism,  we  are  sprinkled  with  the 
Blood  of  Christ,  to  the  cleansing  of  sin,  how  can  any  doubt  ?"  And 
St.  Jerome, §  "  Of  this  fountain  which  proceedeth  out  of  the  house  of 
David,  is  written  in  the  prophet  Ezekiel||  also,  that  a  fountain  spring- 
eth  up  in  the  house  of  G  od,  and  increaseth  to  a  river,  and  goeth  forth 
to  the  desert,  and  to  the  sea  now  called  the  Dead  Sea,  and  maketh 
all  the  fish  to  live,"  &c.  "  This  fountain,"  he  adds,  "  is  referred  to 
the  Church,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Scripture,  that  we  be  all  re- 
born in  Christ,  and  in  the  water  of  Baptism  our  sins  be  forgiven  us." 
Hence  also  the  Ancients  doubt  not  but  that  when  our  Lord  speaks 
of  "  a  fountain  of  living  water,"  "springing  up  unto  everlasting  life,T[" 
He  means  not  only  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  but  the  Spirit,  as  He  had 
"  not  yet  been  given,"  but  should  be  given,  after  Himself  was  "  glo- 
rified,"** the  special  gift  of  the  Indwelling  Spirit  to  those  "  born  of 
water,  and  of  the  Spirit."  "  That  it  may  be  the  plainer,  says  St. 
Cyprian,  comparing  the  two  sacraments,  that  He  speaks  not  of  the 

*  xii.  10.  t  xiii.  1. 

X  Ad  loc.  p.  787. 

^  Ad  loc.  The  prophecy  of  Zechariah  is  quoted  or  referred  to  in  the  Sac- 
ramentary  of  Gelasius  ;  "And  Who  '  openest  the  fountain'  of  Baptism  for  the 
renewal  of  the  nations  throughout  the  whole  world"  (Ass.  ii  3. ;)  the  Grego- 
rian (ib.  8.;)  that  of  Gellone  (ib.  53.;)  Chelle  (ib.  62.  ;)  S.  Germain  des  Pres 
(ib.  65.)  Also  in  the  Syriac  (Apostolic  from  Greek  by  James  of  Edessa,) 
"  A  fountain  of  life  hath  been  opened  to  us,  Baptism"  (ib.  i.  257. ;)  that  of 
Jerusalem  (ii.  226. ;)  and  the  Apostolic  by  Severus  (ii.  289.,)  "  Thou  hast 
given  us  a  ixDuntain  of  true  cleansing,  which  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin,  these 
waters,  which  by  invocation  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit  are  sanctified  ;"  and  probably 
the  Maronite  (ii.  334.,)  "  Eternal  glory — to  the  Son,  Who  hath  opened  to  us 
Baptism  for  the  remission  of  debts,  and  pardon  of  sins." 

II  Ezek.  xlvii.  I — 12.  add  Joel  iii.  18.  of  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  "in  that 
day — shall  all  the  rivers  of  Judah  flow  with  waters,  and  a  fountain  shall  come 
forth  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  water,"  &c.  It  is  quoted  by  Greg. 
Naz.  Or.  xl.  §  27.  and  explained  by  Theodoret. 

1  John  iv.  14  ;  vii-  38.  **  John  vii.  39. 


301 

Cup"  [mingling  water  therein]  "but  of  Baptism,  Scripture  adds, 
'  This  spake  He  of  the  Spirit,  Which  they  who  beheved  in  Him 
should  receive.'  For  by  Baptism  the  Holy  Spirit  is  received,  and 
so  do  they  who  have  been  baptized,  and  obtained  the  Holy  Spirit, 
attain  to  drink  of  the  Cup  of  the  Lord  ;"  and  on  John  iv.,  "  Whereby 
Baptism  in  the  health-giving  water  is  signified,  as  being  once  receiv- 
ed, and  not  repeated,  whereas  the  Cup  of  the  Lord  in  the  Church  is 
ever  both  thirsted  for  and  drunk."*  And  so  then  the  words  of  Isaiah, 
which  our  Lord  identifies  with  Himself,  "  Hot  every  one  that  thirst- 
eih,  come  ye  to  the  waters,"  were  a  prophecy  of  the  same  grace  ;  as 
were  the  Psalmist's, |   "  He  shall  lead  me  by  still  waters,  He  shaU 

*  S.  Cyprian,  Ep.  62.  ad  Csecil.  Theodoret  (ad  Ezek.  xlvii.  1.)  quotes  both 
passages  together,  as  do  S.  Greg.  Nyss.  I.e.  p.  377.  and  S.  Jerome  on  Is.  Iv. 
1.  S.  Greg.  Naz.  quotes  Joh.  iv.  (Orat.  xl.  5  27. :)  S.  Augustine,  Joh.  vii.  (c. 
Crescon.  ii.  13.)  The  two  passages  are  blended  (the  word  "living"  being 
taken  from  Joh.  vii.)  in  the  Sacramentary  of  Gelasius,  "  Be  it"  [the  font]  "  a 
regenerating  '  fountain  of  living  water,'  a  purifying  stream  ;  (Ass.  ii.  3.  and  so 
in  the  Gregorian,  &c.)  Joh.  iv.  again,  "  let  it  be  a  '  fountain  of  water,  spring- 
ing up  unto  life  eternal' "  (ib.  7. ;)  and  "  that  thou  mayest  be  made  in  him, 
who  is  to  be  baptized  in  thee,  a  fountain  of  water  springing  up  to  life  eternal, 
regenerating  him  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit."  (ib. 
6.)  So  (only  in  the  third  person)  in  the  Roman  (ib.  33. ;)  and  Gothic  (ib.  36.;) 
and  Old  Galilean  (ib.  41.)  Again  in  the  Old  Gallican,  "  that  to  those  to  be 
baptized  therein,  it  may  be  a  fountain  of  healthful  water  in  the  remission  of 
former  sins  (through  Thy  gift,  O  Lord,)  to  life  eternal."  (ib.  38.)  The  old 
Gothic  and  Gallican  also  remarkably  blend  together  the  gift  of  Baptism  with 
its  Author,  (referring  also  to  Jerem.  ii.  13.)  "  Baptism  is  a  fountain  of  living 
water  and  of  life,  because  its  Author  is  Creator  of  all,  Lord,  and  Fountain  of 
living  water,  Who,  by  the  laver  of  Baptism,  blottest  out  their  sins,"  &c.  (i. 
29.)  The  words  are  probably  alluded  to  in  the  Greek  (though  less  distinctly) 
in  the  prayer  that  the  water  may  become  "  a  fountain  of  life."  (ib.  139. 

t  Is.  Iv.  1.  quoted  by  S.  Greg.  Xaz.  Orat.  xl.  $  27.  S.  Jerome  (ad  Oc.)  com- 
bines them  with  Joh.  iv.  "The  Samaritan  woman  is  called  at  the  well;  thirsty, 
she  is  invited  to  drink,"  and  (ad  loc.)  with  Joh.  vii.  also  ;  Ps.  xlii.  2  ;  xxxvi. 
9  ;  Jerem.  ii.  13.  He  mentions  also,  as  founded  upon  them,  the  Western  cus- 
tom of  giving  to  the  new-baptized,  wine  and  milk ;  so  strongly  attesting  the 
tradition  of  the  Western  Church  ;  "  to  buy  not  wine  only  but  milk,  which  sig- 
nifies the  innocence  of  the  little  ones  ;  which  custom  and  type  is  to  this  day 
preserved  in  the  Churches  of  the  West,  that  wine  and  milk  should  be  given  to 
those  re-born  in  Christ."  Ver.  1 — 7.  is  directed  to  be  read  in  the  liturgy  of 
Poictiers  (Ass.  i.  67.  ;)  3 — 7.  in  that  of  Gellone  (ib.  57.,)  in  which  ver.  1.  is 
used  as  an  xlntiphone ;  ver.  3.  as  a  versicle  (ib. ;)  ver.  1.  sqq.  are  sung  in  the 
liturgy  of  Liege  (ib.  83.)  It  occurs  also  in  the  Roman  service  for  the  Epiph- 
any. Hence  also  the  title  "  thirsty''  given  to  the  candidates  for  Baptism,  as 
in  the  Old  Gallican,  "  thirsting  for  the  faith."  "  O  God,  to  'Whom  hasten  the 
souls  athirst,  and  longing  to  drink  immortality"  (Ass.  ii.  38,  39. ;)  and  the  ap- 
plication of  our  Lord's  words,  blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,"  to  Baptism.  S.  Cyprian,  Ep.  62.  ad  Csecil.  See  also 
note  X  page  302. 

t  Ps.  xxiii.  is  explained  by  Theodoret  and  S.  Athanasius,  ad  loc.  See  above, 
p.  30.  It  is  used  in  the  Armenian  Baptismal  Service  (Ass.  ii.  196.;)  hence 
also  the  prayer  in  the  Syriac  liturgies,  "  0  Lord  of  all,  make  these  waters 


302 

lead  me  forth  by  the  waters  of  comfort ;"  or  the"^  stream  v;hich  mak- 
6th  glad  the  city  of  God  ;"  or  that  "  inf  the  wilderness  shall  waters 
break  out,  and  streams  in  the  desert,"  i.  e.  says  S.  Jerome,|  "that 
which  before  was  thirsty  and  trackless,  not  having  the  living  water, 
and  the  Lord  did  not  walk  through  it ;"  and  "  the  parched  ground 
shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  land  springs  of  water  ;"  or  that 
God  would  do  a  new  thing."  "  I  will  make  a  way  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  rivers  in  the  desert,  to  give  drink  to  My  people.  My  cho- 
sen ;  I  will  pour  water  upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the 
dry  ground  ;  I  will  pour  My  Spirit  upon  thy  seed  ;"^  or  that  "  with 
Godii  is  the  fountain  of  life  ;"  or  that  Himself  is  "  theH  Fountain  of 

waters  of  rest."  (Antioch  and  Jerus.  ii.  220.  Jerus.  ii.  230  and  259.  Apost. 
by  Severus,  ii.  291.)  See  also  Cassiodor,  ad  loc.  ap.  Gerhard.  With  the  same 
feeling  of  the  rest  given  by  Baptism,  the  section,  Matt.  xi.  25 — 30.  "  I  thank 
Thee,  O  Father — My  burden  is  light,"  is  a  lesson  in  the  rituals  of  Gellone 
(Ass.  i.  55.;)  Poictiers  (ib.  66.;)  Wertin  (ib.  73.;)  S.  Severini  (ib.  91-;)  S.Basil 
quotes  Matt.  xi.  28.  as  having  been  read  in  connection  with  Baptism.  Horn, 
de  S.  Bapt.  T.  ii.  p.  114.  It  may  be  on  the  same  ground,  that  our  Church 
directs  that  Baptism  should  take  place  after  the  second  lesson,  i.  e.  before  the 
hymn,  "  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace." 

*  Sacramentary  of  Gelasius,  "  Look  upon  the  face  of  Thy  Church,  and  mul- 
tiply in  her  the  births  of  Thee,  Thou,  Who  with  the  force  of  Thy  streaming 
grace  makest  glad  Thy  city,"  (Ass.  ii.  3.;)  also  in  the  Gregorian,  as  well  as 
in  those  of  Gellone,  ii.  53.;)  Poictiers  (ii.  65.,)  &c.  It  is  quoted  by  S.  Jerome 
in  Is.  Iv.;  iii.  45.  and  S.  Aug.  c.  Cresc.  ii.  14. 

f  Is.  XXXV.  6. 

i  Ad  loc.  and  further,  (showing  the  connection  with  what  went  before,) 
"Therefore  shall  the  eyes  be  opened,  the  ears  hear,  the  lame  leap,  and  the 
tongue  of  the  dumb  be  loosed,  because  there  have  been  opened,  or  have  burst 
forth,  in  what  was  a  desert  Church,  the  streams  of  saving  Baptism,  and  tor- 
rents and  rivers  in  the  wilderness,  namely,  dilferent  spiritual  graces."  And 
S.  Greg.  Nyss.  (p.  377.)  on  ver.  2.  "  And  where  shall  we  place  that  pro- 
phecy of  Isaiah,  calling  to  the  desert  to  rejoice  1  For  it  is  plain  that  he  does 
not  announce  joy  to  places  without  life  and  sense  ;  but  by  the  desert  he  alle- 
gorically  denotes  the  parched  and  neglected  soul ;  as  David  also  when  he  says, 
'  My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,' "  &c.  (Ps.  xlii.  2.)  And  again,  the  Lord  in  the 
Gospels  (John  vii.;)  and  to  the  Samaritan  (Joh.  iv.:)  and  Eusebius  (ad  loc.;) 
"  It  is  prophetic  of  John  Baptist ;  and  that  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ 
set  His  seal  to  the  Baptism  of  John  by  being  baptized  of  him,  and  in  His 
own  Person  established  the  mystery  of  regeneration."  And  Theodoret  (ad 
loc.,)  "He  calls  it  thirsty,  as  not  having  received  the  prophetic  watering; 
and  barren,  as  not  having  received  the  divine  culture.  Her  he  bids  rejoice ; 
and  imitate  the  flower  of  the  lily,  the  purity  coming  from  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  Baptism. 

§  is.  xliii.  19,  20  ;  xliv.  3.  The  section  xliii.  18 — xliv.  5.  is  a  lesson  in  the  Poictiers 
ritual  (Ass.  i.  66.)  ;  as  is  Is.  xlij.  8 — 15,  including  the  words  "  hy  the  springs  of  water 
shall  he  guide  them,"  (ib.  67.);  Is.  xliii.  18 — 21.  is  placed  by  S.  Cyprian,  Testim.  i, 
12.  under  ihe  head  "  That  the  Old  Baptism  was  to  cease,  and  a  new  begin;"  as  is  Is. 
xlviii.  21,  "  He  will  cause  the  waters  to  flow  out  of  the  rock  for  them,"  &c.  He  quotes 
both  also  Ep.  63.  ad  Caecil.     See  also  Theod.  p.  357. 

II  Ps.  XXXV.  10,  quoted  by  Jerome,  ad  Is.  Iv. 

^  Jerem.  ii.  13.  see  Jerome,  i.  c.  and  Gothic  and  Galilean  Liturgies  above. 


303 

living  waters  ;"  or  that  other,  "  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water- 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  Thee,  0  God  ;"*  was  a  longing  af^ 
ter  it.  To  "  sow  beside  all  waters,"  was  to  unite  instruction  in  the 
word  with  all-holy  Baptism.! 

To  take  a  different  sort  of  type  ;  in  the  New  Testament  our  Bap- 
tism is  spoken  of,  in  an  image  as  restoring  to  us  the  robe  of  innocen- 
cy,:]:  which  Adam,  by  his  transgression,  lost,  as  clothing,  our  shame, 
giving  us  a  garment  of  holiness  for  our  mantle  of  fig  leaves,  "  strip- 
ping off  our  old  man,"  and  "  putting  on  the  new,"  removing  our  de- 
filements, and  clothing  us  with  Christ.  When  then,  in  the  vision  of 
Zechariah,^  "  Satan  stands  at  the  right  hand"  of  "  Joshua  the  high- 
priest,"  "  clothed  with  filthy  garments  ;"  and  "  the  filthy  garments," 
are  "  taken  from  him,"  and  He  saith  unto  him.  Behold  I  have  caused 
thine  iniquity  to  pass  from  thee,  "  and  I  will  clothe  thee  with  change 
of  raiment,"  doubtless  there  is  a  primary  reference  to  Him,  our 
High-Priest,  Who  "bore  our  sins,"  and  "in  Whom  the  prince  of 
this  world  could  find  nothing  ;"||  but  then  also  to  us,  who  by  Bap- 
tism are  engraffed  in  Him,  and  are  thus  clothed  with  His  purity  as 
He  with  our  defilements,  and  become  partakers  of  His  holiness, 
which  He  in  our  nature  obtained  for  us.  "Most  manifestly,"  says  St. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,1I  "  doth  Zechariah  prophecy  of  Jesus  clothed 

*  Ps.  xlii.  It  is  one  of  the  Psalms  used  at  the  beginning  of  the  Roman  liturgy  in  the 
Baptism  of  adults  (Ass.  ii.  21.)  in  that  of  Milan  (discretionally)  in  going  towards  the 
font  (ii.  46.)  :  the  first  verse  is  interwoven  in  a  prayer  in  that  of  the  Maronite  Syrians, 
(ii.  334.)  It  is  quoted  by  S.  Greg.  Naz.  Oral.  xl.  §  24.  S.  Gieg.  Nyss.  1.  c.  p.  378,  and 
S.  Ambrose  de  Interpeil.  Dav.  c.  1.  fin.  and  so  interpreted  by  Hesychius  (ad  loc.  ap. 
Corder.  Cat.)  and  S.  Athanasius,  ib.  on  ver.  7.  S.  Augustine  mentions  its  being  sung 
in  the  Western  Church,  in  the  Baptismal  service,  though  he  rightly  would  not  have  its 
meaning  confined  to  that  sacrament ;  rather,  as  he  says,  it  increases  the  longing,  which 
it,  in  part,  fulfils.  "  This  is  not  ill  understood  to  be  the  words  of  those,  who  being  cate- 
chumens, hasten  to  the  grace  of  the  holy  laver.  Whence  al.so  this  psalm  is  wont  to  be 
suhg,  that  they  may  so  long  for  the  fount  of  remission  of  sins,  '  as  the  hart  for  the  founts 
of  water.'  Be  it  so ;  and  let  this  meaning  have  its  true  and  wonted  place  in  the  Church. 
Yet,  my  brethren,  such  longing  seems  to  me  not  to  be  satisfied  in  the  faithful  even  in 
Baptism  ;  but,  perchance,  if  they  know  where  they  are  pilgrims,  and  whither  their  jour- 
ney lies,  they  are  kindled  yet  more  ardently."     Ad  loc.  §  I. 

t  Is.  xxxii.  20.  "  By    '  water'    he  designates  the  abolishing  of  sin,  and  cleansing  of 
the  soul,  all-holy  Baptism  ;  by  seed  the  word  of  instruction."     Theodoret,  ad  loc.  add 
S.  Cyril,  Alex,  ad  loc.  T.  iii.  p.  451.     S.  Greg.  Naz.  Or.  xl.  §  27. 
t  See  above,  p.  90.  sqq.  §  c.  iii. 

II  John  xiv.  30. 

IT  De  Bapt.  Christi,  T.  iii.  p.  377.  In  like  way,  St.  Jerome  (ad  loc.)  "  This  Jesus 
was  clothed  with  filthy  garments.  Who  having  done  no  sin,  was  made  sin  for  us  ;  all 
which  are  called  filthy  garments;  and  will  be  taken  away  from  Him,  when  He  shall 
have  done  away  our  sins  ;  that  because  He  was  clothed  in  filthy  garments,  we,  rising 
again  in  Him,  may  hear  after  our  Bapti.sm,  '  Be  thy  garments  always  white,'  (Eccl.  ix. 
8.)  ;  and  the  whole  Church  of  believers  hears  through  Isaiah,  '  Wash  you,  make  you 
clean.'  "  (i.  16.)  And  St.  Ambrose  (de  Myst.  c.  7.  §  37.),  "  Christ  seeing  His  Church 
in  white  raiment,  for  which  Himself  (as  you  have  in  the  prophet  Zechariah)  had  taken 
filthy  garments  ;  or  seeing  the  soul  washed  and  clean,  through  the  laver  of  regenera- 
tion, saith,  '  Behold  thou  art  fair.'  "  (Cant.  iv.  1.) 


304 

with  the  filthy  garment,  our  slavish  flesh,  and  stripping  Him  of  His 
mournful  vest  adorns  Him  with  a  pure  garment,  teaching  us  through 
this  image  and  likeness,  that  in  the  baptism  of  Jesus,  we  all,  strip- 
ped  of  sins,  as  a  beggarly  and  many-shredded  garment,  are,  in  lieu, 
clothed  with  the  sacred  and  most  beautiful  garment  of  regeneration." 
To  the  prophet  is  set  forth  in  act,  in  the  vision  imparted  to  him,  the 
same  truth  which  St.  Paul  declares  in  figurative  words  ;  both  are 
figures,  but  both  declare  realities,  corresponding  to  the  figures. 

Such  are  among  the  most  important  doctrinal  passages  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  the  modern  unsacramental  theory  has  rent  from 
their  connection  with  God's  preparatory  teaching,  and  from  their 
place  in  His  system.  It  may,  however,  not  be  uninstructive  to  ob" 
serve,  how,  in  other  passages  not  immediately  involving  important 
doctrine,  the  Ancients  saw  the  same  reference  to  the  sacrament, 
whereby  they  had  been  regenerated.  Thus,  since  Baptism  is  the 
washing  of  renovation  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  (as  well  as  of  regenera- 
tion,) "  ye  are  eagles,"  says  S.  Ambrose,*  "  renewed  by  the  washing 
dway  of  sin  :"  since  it  is  our  enlightening,  to  it  they  believed  that  the 
Psalmist  invited,  "  Come  and  be  enlightened,"!  and  the'more,  since 
there  followed,  "  0  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good."  "  HavingI 
said,  '  Come  unto  Him  and  be  enlightened,'  he  exhorts,  '  and  taste.' 
The  meaning  hidden  in  the  depth  of  the  letter,  hints  secretly  at  the 
grace  of  the  Divine  mysteries  ;  for  through  all-holy  Baptism  is  the 
true  enlightening  bestowed  on  those  who  come  to  it ;  and  the  '  tast- 
ing' of  the  life-giving  food  shows  plainly  the  goodness  of  the  Saviour. 
For  what  so  clearly  shows  His  love  for  man,  as  the  Cross,  and  Pas- 
sion, and  Death,  for  us,  and  that  He  is  at  once  the  food  and  the  foun- 
tain for  His  own  sheep." 

Witli  their  vivid  sense  of  the  value  of  our  Lord's  Baptism  to  us, 
the  words,  "  The  Voice  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters,"^  was  a 
prophecy  of  the  sacred  words,  "  This  is  My  Beloved  Son,"  uttered 
thereat. 

*  De  Sacr.  iv.  2.  fin.  from  Ps.  ciii.  5.  add  S.  Basil,  de  Sp.  S.  c.  15. 

+  Ps.  xxxiv.  6.8.  S.  Gregory  of  Nazianzum,  Orat.  40.  §  24  ;  and  S.  Basil  (Horn, 
de  S.  Bapt.  T.  ii.  p.  114.)  mention  its  being  read  in  connection  with  Baptism.  It  is  so 
interpreted  by  Theodoret,  ad  loc.  and  Greg.  Nyss.  1.  c.  iii.  377.  It  occurs  in  the  Cop- 
tic Baptismal  Service.  (Ass.  ii.  178.)  And  on  the  same  ground  in  part  in  the  Arme- 
nian, Ps.  xxvii.     "  The  Lord  is  my  light  and  salvation." 

t  Theodoret,  ad  loc. 

§  Ps.  xxix.,  "  The  Divine  David,  prophesying  before  of  that  voice,  which  the  Father 
sent  from  Heaven  upon  the  Son  when  baptized,  to  guide  to  the  dignity  of  the  Godhead, 
which  He  by  nature  had,  the  hearers  who  hitherto  looked  to  the  visible  lowliness  of  His 
human  estate,  inserted  that  '  The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters,  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  is  in  Majesty.'  "  S.  Greg.  Nyss.  (1.  c.  378.)  and  S.  Basil ;  "  Perhaps,  also,  in  a 
more  mystical  way,  '  the  voice  of  God'  was  '  upon  the  waters,'  when  the,  voice  came 
from  above  to  Jesus,  when  baptized,  '  This  is  my  beloved  Son.'  For  then  '  the  Lord 
was  upon  many  waters,'  sanctifying  the  waters  through  Baptism.  And  '  the  God  of 
glory  thundered'  from  above,  with  the  loud  voice  of  His  testimony ;  and  the  voice  be- 
queathed by  the  Lord  is  still  pronounced  over  the  baptized,  '  Go  ye,  baptizing  in  the 


305 

Since  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Jordan  was  a  type  of 
Baptism,  the  words,  "  What  ailed  thee,  0  thou  sea,  that  thou  fled- 
dest  ?  thou  Jordan,  that  thou  wert  driven  back  ?"  and  "  the  waters 
saw  Thee,  0  God,  tlie  waters  saw  Thee  ;  they  were  afraid ;  the 
depths  also  were  troubled  ;"*  were  not  only  reminiscences  of  past 
miracles,  but  a  description  of  mercies  to  them,  as  also  of  the  amaze- 
ment of  nature,  that  our  Lord  could  condescend  to  be  baptized  there- 
in ;  the  song  of  Moses  was  a  thanksgiving  for  their  own  blessings, 
"when  God  brought  them  in  and  planted  them  in.  the  mountain  of 
His  inheritance  ;"  "  in  the  habitation  which  he  had  prepared,  the 
sanctuary,  which  His  hands  had  formed  ;"t  the  words,  "Thou  break- 
est  the  heads  of  the  dragons  upon  the  waters,"!  to  them  chiefly  spake 

Name,'  &c.  '  The  voice  of  the  Lord'  then  is  '  upon  the  waters.'  "  Ad  loc.  T.  i.  p. 
218,  and  Theodoret,  "  He  predicts  the  voice  which  came  from  heaven  at  the  Jordan, 
'  This  is  My  beloved  Son,'  &c.  ;  He  calleth  it  thunder,  as,  through  the  holy  Gospels, 
reaching  through  the  world.  '  The  Lord  is  on  many  waters.  For  not  the  Jordan  only 
received  that  grace,  but  every  where,  in  land  and  sea,  is  the  mystery  of  Baptism  per- 
formed, the  invocation  of  God  sanctifymg  the  nature  of  waters."  (ad  loc.)  And  S. 
Hippolytus,  "Why  [came  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  our  Lord]  ^  That  the  voice  of  the 
Father  might  be  known  assuredly,  and  the  prophetic  prediction  of  times  long  since  be 
confirmed.  What''  'The  voice  of  the  Lord  upon  the  waters,  the  God  of  glory  thun- 
dered, the  Lord  upon  many  waters.'  "  (in  Theoph.  §  7.)  It  is  quoted  also  by  S.  Jerome 
(ad  Oc.)  ;  and  S.  .Ithanasius  (ad  loc.)  gives  it  as  one  exposition.  The  entire  psalm  is 
used  in  the  Armenian  (ii.  206.)  ;  and  at  least  ver.  1 — 4.  in  the  revised  Syriac  (i.  221.); 
the  Jerusalem  (ii-  246.)  ;  the  Apostolic  by  Severus  (li.  267)  ;  by  James  of  Edessa.  (i. 
243.)  It  is  one  of  the  psalms  used  in  the  Roman  Office  for  Adult-Baptism  (Ass.  ii. 
21.) ;  ver.  3,  4.  are  used  in  the  Coptic  (ii.  178.)  ;  ver.  3.  as  an  antiphone  in  the  Arme- 
nian (».  195.  206);  it  occurs  in  the  Malabar  (i.  186.);  Apost.  by  James  of  Ed.  (i. 
248.  257.  274.)  ;  combined  with  Ps.  Ixxvii.  16.  in  the  Apost.  by  Severus  (ii.  295.),  and 
alpne.  (ii.  313.)  In  that  by  James  Ed.  it  is  indistinct  reference  to  our  Lord's  Baptism, 
«'The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  on  the  waters.  Who  was  baptized  in  Jordan  ;  the  Loid  upon 
many  waters.  Who  sanctified  us  by  His  Baptism."  (i.  265.)  It  is  used  also  in  the  Ro- 
man Service  for  the  Epiphany. 

*  Ps.  cxiv.  5  ;  Ixxvii.  16.  The  two  psalms  are  blended  together  in  the  Syriac  Apos- 
tolic by  James  of  Edessa  (Ass.  i.  247.) ;  Jerusalem  (ib.  ii.  248,  9.) ;  Maronite  (ii.  312.) 
Ps.  cxiv.  recurs  also  in  the  Apost.  by  Ser.  (ii.  272.)  Ps.  Ixxvii.  16.  is  used  as  an  anti- 
phone  by  the  revised  Syriac  (Ass.  i.  229.) ;  Jerusalem  (ib.  ii.  223  )  as  a  verse  in  the 
Apostolic  by  Severus  (ib.  i.  266.);  it  is  inserted  in  a  prayer  with  direct  reference 
to  the  "  Voice  of  the  Father"  in  the  Maronite  (ii.  329.)  "Let  as  cry  aloud  with 
the  prophet  David,  '  The  waters  saw  Thee,'  &c.  Let  us  cry  aloud  again  with  the 
Father,  Who  with  a  mighty  voice  spake  from  the  highest  heavens,"  &c.  ;  and  also  in 
the  very  brief  form  by  Philoxenus,  for  cases  of  imminent  death,  "  The  waters  saw  Thee, 
O  God  ;  the  waters  saw  Thee,  O  Lord,  and  trembled  ;  Thy  power  was  moved  from  the 
heights  above,  its  virtue  dwelt  in  the  depths  beneath  ;  and  Thou  gavest  Baptism  to  the 
peoples  ;  to  be  the  mother  of  spiritual  sons." 

t  Syriac  revised  Liturgy  (Ass.  i.  225.)  The  part  of  the  prayer  immediately  pre- 
ceding, is  "  0  Lord,  make  them  worthy  of  Thy  heavenly  kingdom,  which  Thou  hast 
promised  and  prepared  for  them  that  love  Thee,  and  for  the  blessed  and  goodly  mansions 
of  the  house  of  Thy  Father,  wherein  dwell  the  fathers,  and  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 
apostles,  and  martyrs,  and  confessors,  which  Thou  hast  promised  and  prepared  for  them, 
and  bring,"  &c. 

\  Ps.  Ixxiv.  13.  "  'The  heads  of  the  dragons,'  the  pride  of  the  demons,  by  whom 
the  Gentiles  were  possessed,  '  Thou  bruisedst  upon  the  water,'  because  those  whom 
they  possessed  Thou  by  Baptism  didst  set  free."  Aug.  ad  loc.  §  15.  "  'The  head  of 
the  dragon,'  What  dragon  1     By  the  dragons  we  understand  all  the  demons  warring 

10* 


306 

of  the  destruction,  at  Baptism,  of  his  power  over  them,  to  whom 
they  had  been  enslaved,  and  of  whom  Pharaoh  was  a  type — "  the 
great  Dragon,  that  old  Serpent,  called  the  Devil  and  Satan  ;"*  and 
when  they  read,  "He  turned  the  sea  into  the  dry  land;  through 
the  river  shall  they  pass  through  on  foot ;  there  rejoice  we  in  Him  ;"t  they 
rejoiced  in  the  thought  of  those  waters  of  life,  through  which  they 
had  "  passed,  not  with  the  foot  of  the  flesh,  but  by  faith  :"  and  when 
there  followed,  "  we  went  through  fire  and  water,  and  thou  brought- 
est  us  out  into  a  broad  place, "|  they  thought  of  their  safe  and  happy 
place,  the  Church,  into  which  they  had  thereby  been  brought :  Isa- 
iah's§  description  of  God's  subsequent  care  of  them  through  the  wil- 
derness, "  which  are  borne  by  Me  from  the  belly,  which  are  carried 
by  Me  from  the  womb,"  described  to  them  their  lot.  "  Thou  sittest 
upon  the  water-floods,"|l  spake  to  them  of  God's  effacing  and  utterly 
abolishing  their  sins. 

under  the  Devil ;  by  the  one  dragon,  then,  whose  head  was  broken,  what  must  we  un- 
derstand but  the  Devil  himself  ?  The  head  it  was  whicb  received  the  curse."  lb.  §  18. 
"The  heads  of  these  [adverse  powers]  Christ  bruised  in  the  water,  being  both  Himself 
baptized,  and  delivering  Baptism  to  men."  Hesychius  (ap.  Corder.)  "  As  amongst  ihe 
Jews,  water  was  the  beginning  of  freedom,  so  also  to  us,  through  Divine  Baptism  ;  there 
the  dragons,  here  the  demons  were  crushed."  Apollinarius  (ap  Corder.)  "  He  de- 
signates also  the  devil,  whom  the  Lawgiver  bound  and  destroyed  by  His  voluntary 
death."  Theodoret.  It  is  quoted  also  by  S.  Jerome  (ad  Oc),  and  by  Damascene  (iv. 
9.),  in  connection  with  our  Lord's  Baptism.  See  also  the  Liturgies  above.  On  the 
same  ground,  the  drowning  of  swine,  into  whom  the  devils  had  entered,  is  referred  to  by 
S.  Greg.  Naz.  xl.  35.  "  He  is  choked  by  the  purification,  as  the  legion  by  the  sea." 

»  Rev.  xii.  9. 

+  Ps.  Ixv.  6.  "  He  saith  not  '  passed  through,'  that  you  may  not  suppose  that  He  is 
speaking  of  the  Jews  going  on  foot  through  Jordan,  but  '  shall  pass  through  ;'  prophe- 
sying the  future  mystery,  and  predicting  Baptism,  which  we  pass  through  not  with  \he 
foot  of  the  flesh,  but  by  faith,  where  the  unbelieving  cannot  pass  through  it."  (Anot 
given  to  Theodoret  ap.  Corder.)  And  Theodoret,  "  This  same  God,  who  of  old  divided 
the  sea  and  rivers,  is  He  Who  giveth  us  also  salvation,  granting  a  passage  to  the  Gen- 
tiles also,  which  having  made  '  through  the  washing  of  regeneration,'  they  are  re-formed. 
For  as  then  by  the  hand  of  the  great  Moses,  He  divided  the  Red  sea  hither  and  thither, 
thus  here  also  by  the  hand  of  the  priests  ;  and  renews  the  people  who  believe  in  Christ, 
and  overwhelms  the  spiritual  Pharaoh  with  his  chariots,  i.  e.  the  devil  with  his  lusts. 
'There  shall  we  rejoice  thereof,'  i.  e.  by  the  Jordan,  as  they  of  the  Gentiles  also  by  the 
Divine  Baptistery.  For  then  also  Jordan  was  divided  for  the  people  ;  and  now  Jordan, 
.  having  received  the  Maker  and  Author,  receiveth  the  salvation  of  Man.  For  by  entering 
into  the  Laver  for  us,  our  God  and  Saviour  regenerated  us  all  '  by  water  and  the  Spirit.'  " 
(ad  loc.)  Theodorus  also  refers  the  passage  to  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament, 
(ap.  Corder.) 

t  Ver.  13.  repeated  in  the  Coptic  Liturgy.    (Ass.  ii.  178.) 

§  Is.  xlvi.  3.  repeated  in  the  Poictiers  ritual  (Ass.  i.  65.),  comp.  Ex.  xix.  4.  Deut.  i. 
31  ;    xxxii.  11. 

II  Ps.  xxxii.  6.  "  A  flood  is  an  overflow  of  water,  concealing  every  thing  under  it, 
and  purifying  every  thing  defiled.  Wherefore,  he  calls  the  grace  of  Baptism  a  '  flood  ;' 
80  that  the  soul  having  been  washed  from  sin,  and  cleansed  from  the  old  man,  might  be 
fit  for  an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit.  And  with  this  agrees  what  is  said  in  the 
31st  [32nd]  Psalm  ;  for  after  having  said,  '  I  have  acknowledged  my  transgression,  and 
ray  sin  have  I  not  hid,'  he  added,  '  but  in  the  flood  of  many  waters  they  shall  not  '  come 
nigh  him,'  for  sins  shall  not  'come  nigh  him,' who  has  received  the  Baptism  of  the  remission 
of  transgressions  through  '  water  and  the  Spirit:'  and  akin  to  this  is  what  is  said  in  the 
prophet  Micah."  (vii.  19.)  S.  Basil,  ad  loc.  add  Theodoret,  ad  loc.  and  S.  Jerome,  ad  Oc. 


307 

Such  are  some  specimens  of  the  typical  system  of  the  Ancient 
Church ;  they  must  be  seen  to  disadvantage,  as  it  was  necessary 
here  to  exhibit  them,  artificially  arranged,  instead  of  being  naturally 
grouped  together,  as  they  thronged  into  the  thoughts  of  those,  who 
were  in  possession  of  the  system,  which  we  are  attempting  to  recov- 
er, and  saw  intuitively  what  we  attain  to  by  a  process  of  argument. 
We  are  obliged  to  detect,  by  analysis,  what  was  to  them  transpa- 
rent ;  and  such  "  demonstrations,"  as  compared  with  their  percep- 
tion, are  much  what  the  operation  of  the  anatomist,  in  detaching  the 
several  sinews  and  muscles,  is  to  their  action  in  life.  We  lose  also 
the  moral  influence  of  the  character  of  truth  resulting  from  their  full, 
unlabored  persuasion  ;  and  the  impressiveness  of  their  conviction. 
Still,  even  under  these  disadvantages,  it  will  probably  be  felt,  that 
this  system  of  the  Ancient  Church  does  perceive  a  harmony  in  holy 
scripture,  to  which  we  are  strangers  ;  that  there  is  a  beauty  in  this 
universal  relation  of  the  most  distant  and  the  minutest  things  and  words 
of  Holy  Scripture  with  the  most  central  and  greatest,  even  those  of 
Him,  our  Lord  ;  that  this  system  allows  no  word  of  God  to  "  fall  to 
the  ground,"  but  gathers  up  all  diligently,  that  "  nothing  be  lost ;" 
that  it  is  analogous  to  His  scheme  of  Creation,  in  which  the  lowest 
things  bear  a  certain  relation  to  the  highest,  attesting  the  unity  of 
their  Author  ;  that  it  is  agreeable  to  the  connection  of  His  Word 
with  His  word,  that  this  should,  even  in  what  seems  the  most  inci- 
dental and  insignificant  detail  of  it,  speak  of  Him,  Who  spoke  it,  be 
penetrated  with  Him,  Who  is  it's  and  our  Life. 

Nor  is  the  whole  office  of  the  types  concluded,  although  their  pre- 
paratory ministry  is  at  an  end  ;  our  eyes  still  need  their  mitigated 
light,  that  we  may  contemplate  the  Eternal  Light  under  more  varied 
aspects  ;  and  having  its  rays  subjected  to  our  eyes,  one  by  one,  may 
the  better  appreciate  what,  as  a  whole,  we  cannot  realize;  and  meet- 
ing with  it  wherever  we  turn,  mirrored  in  the  histories  and  sayings 
of  Holy  Scripture,  may  dwell  the  more  continually  upon  it,  and  God's 
love  therein  ;  not  depending  upon  our  own  efforts  to  fix  our  minds 
upon  the  substance.    Certainly,  a  gradual  abandonment  of  the  types,* 

*  The  learned  Lutheran,  Gerhard  (LocLde  S.  Bapt.),  still  recognized  the  following 
as  the  ^''  chief  types  of  Baptism;" — Gen.  i.  3.  Spirit  of  God  brooding  upon  the  face  of 
the  water,  iii.  21.  Goats  of  skins,  vi.  vii.  Deluge,  xxvii.  Circumcision,  xxiv.  43.  Re- 
becca by  the  well,  typifying  the  Church  as  the  bride  of  Christ.  Exod.  xiii.  The  cloud, 
xiv.  The  Red  Sea.  xv.  5.  Mara  (coll.  Apoc.  xxii.  2.)  xvii.  6.  Water  from  the  rock. 
XXX.  18  ;  xxxviii.  8  ;  xl.  7.  The  laver.  Lev.  xiv.  6.  Hyssop,  &c.  xv.  Levitical  wash- 
ings, xix.  2.  Ashes  of  the  heifer,  &c.  Josh.  iii.  Passage  of  Jordan.  1  Kings  vii.  23. 
Brazen  sea.  xvii.  34.  Sacrifice  of  Elijah.  2  Kings  v.  Naaman.  And  in  the  New 
Testament,  John  v.  Pool  of  Bethesda.  xix.  34.  The  Blood  and  water.  Rev.  iv.  6. 
The  sea  of  glass,  xxii.  1.  River  of  pure  water.  He  names  also  the  following  as  "  cAte/ 
sayings''  relating  to  it : — Ps.  xxiii ;  xxix.  10  ;  xlvi.  4 ;  ciii.  5.  Is.  xliv.  3,  4 ;  xlix. 
22  ;  Iii.  15.  (quoting  Luther  on  Gen.  xlix.  "to  be  baptized  is  nothing  else  than  to  be 
absolved  in  the  Blood,  or  by  virtue  of  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God) ;"  Ixi.  10.  Ezek. 
xvi.  39.  Ps.  xli.  16.  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25,  26;  xlvii.  1.  Joel  iii.  18.  Mic.  vii.  19.  Zech. 
xiii.  1. 


308 

and  a  less  reverential  and  thoughtful  appreciation  of  the  reality,  have 
gone  together.  In  both  we  have  declined,  step  by  step,  from  the 
Ancient  Church. 

With  regard  to  the  immediate  subject  of  Baptism,   it  must,  of 
course,  raise  our  notions  of  it,  that  God  had  thus  prepared  the  way 
for  it.*     "  I  find,"  says   S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,"!  "  that  not  only  did 
the  Gospel,  after  the  Crucifixion,  preach  the  grace  of  Baptism,  but 
that  before  the  Incarnation  of  the  Lord  also,  the  old  Scripture  every 
where  foreshadowed  the  image  of  our  regeneration  ;  not  manifesting 
its  form  plainly,  but,  under  dark  hints,  gently  foreshowing  the  love 
of  God  to  man  :  and  as  the  Lamb  was  dimly  seen,  and  the  Cross 
was  foretold,  so  was  Baptism  also  foresignified  in  action."     It  must, 
of  course,  be  a  great  dispensation,  which  God  so  ushered  in,  depos- 
iting the  first  intimations  of  it  in  the  very  history  of  the  foundation 
of  the  world  ;  ordering  as  well  the  acts  as  the  records  of  His  Provi- 
dence, so  as  to  interweave  therein  continual  hints  of  it ;  giving  to 
the  emblems  and  instruments  of  it  a  primary  place  in  His  mightiest 
dealings  with  our  race,  or  with  His  chosen  people,  and  directing  the 
minds  of  His  prophets  to  speak  of  the  future  mercies  in  reference  to 
those  deahngs  ;  Iniking  it  on  to  the  mightiest,  and  the  rarest,  and  yet 
stooping  to  blend  it  with  the  things  of  most  frequent   occurrence ; 
making  it  the  chief  instrument  of  His  wonders,  or  inserting  the  men- 
tion of  it,  for  the  mere  sake  (so  to  speak)  of  keeping  it  ever  before 
our  eyes  :  connecting  it  with  the  longings  for  forgiveness,  or  His 
promises  of  refreshment  and  renewal,  and  of  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
in  the  Old  Testament ;  clearing  off  the  shadows  and  unveiling  its 
form,  as  the  dawn  of  the"  Sun  of  righteousness"    approached  ;  and 
at  last  bringing  forth  the  emblem  of  it  from  the  very  Side  of  the  In- 
carnate Son,  and  sanctifying  it  in  the  Jordan  by  the  sensible  Pres- 
ence of  the  Trinity.     "  Now  then,"  asks  S.  Ambrose,  after  naming 
some  of  these  preparations,  "I  would  ask  thee,  whether  thou  must 
not  believe  that  thou  hast  the  Presence  of  the  Trinity  in  that  Bap- 
tism, wherewith  they  are  baptized  in  the  Church  ?" 

If  these  things  were  shadows,  what  is  the  reality  ?  For  it  were  a 
perverted  way,  (with  moderns,  and  some  ancient  heretics,)  to  com- 
pare the  type  with  the  reality,  otherwise  than  in  contrast.  "  What 
then?"  asks  S.  Basil,:}:  "  because  they  were  typically  baptized  to 
Moses,  is  the  grace  of  Baptism  therefore  slight  ?  So  should  noth- 
ing else  bestowed  upon  us  be  great,  were  we  to  employ  the  types  to 
disparage  what  is  exalted  in  each.  For  neither  would  the  love  of 
God  to  man  be  any  thing  great  and  surpassing,  in  that  He  gave  His 
Only-Begotten  Son  for  our  sins ;  inasmuch  as  Abraham  also  spared 

•  "  Types  show  forth  the  majesty  of  Baptism."  Luth.  T.  iv,  0pp.  Lat.  f  115.     Ap 
Gerhard  de  S.  Bapt.  c.  2. 

t  1.  c.  p.  373. 
X  De  Sp.  S.  c.  14.  4  32. 


309 

not  his  own  son.  Nor  were  the  Passion  of  the  Lord  glorious  ;  inas- 
much as  the  ram  in  heu  of  Isaac  fulfilled  the  type  of  the  Oblation. 
Nor  were  the  descent  into  hell  awful ;  inasmuch  as  Jonah,  during 
three  days  and  as  many  nights,  fore-fulfilled  the  type  of  the  Death. 
He  then  doth  the  same,  whoso  as  to  Baptism  also,  estimates  the  truth 
by  a  shadow,  and  from  the  types  judges  of  the  things  signified  by 
them,  and  essays  by  means  of  '  Moses  and  the  sea,'  to  disparage  at 
once  the  whole  dispensation  of  the  Gospel.  For  what  remission  of 
sins  was  there  ?  what  renewing  of  life  in  the  sea  ?  what  spiritual  gift 
through  Moses  ?  what  destroying  of  sin  there  ?  They  died  not  toge- 
ther with  Christ ;  wherefore  neither  were  they  co-raised.  They 
bore  not  the  image  of  the  Heavenly  ;  they  bore  not  about  in  the 
body  the  dying  of  Jesus  ;  they  put  not  off  the  old  man  ;  they  put  not 
on  the  new,  which  is  renewed  to  knowledge,  after  the  image  of  Him 
Who  created  him.  Why  then  comparest  thou  the  baptisms,  which 
have  the  title  only  in  common  ?  but  the  substance  differs,  as  doth  a 
dream  from  the  reality,  and  a  shadow  and  images  from  things  having 
a  substantive  existence."*  "  So  then,"  he  subjoins  a  little  after,t  in 
answer  to  those,  who  disparaged  Baptism,  in  order  to  elude  the  argu- 
ment in  proof  of  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  "  speaking  of  the  le- 
gal baptism,  he  said  'they  were  baptized  unto  Moses,'  why  then 
would  they,  who  by  the  aid  of  the  shadow  and  types,  calumniate  the 
truth,  cast  contempt  upon  the  boast  of  our  hope,  and  the  rich  gift  of 
our  God  and  Saviour,  Who  through  regeneration,  '  reneweth  our 
youth  like  an  eagle  V  This  is  altogether  the  part  of  an  infant  mind, 
and  of  a  child  "Vvhich  hath  indeed  need  of  milk,  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
great  mystery  of  our  salvation,  because,  after  the  manner  of  all  ele- 
mentary teaching,  we  are,  in  the  school  of  godliness,  led  step  by  step 
to  perfection,  being  first  instructed  in  what  is  easier  and  proportioned 
to  our  knowledge  ;  He,  Who  disposeth  our  concerns,  practising  our 
eyes,  which  were  inured  to  darkness,  and  leading  us  upward  to  the 
great  light  of  truth.  For  He  spareth  our  weakness  in  the  depth  of 
the  riches  of  His  wisdom  ;  and  in  the  inscrutable  judgments  of  His 
understanding.  He  adopted  this  easy  guidance,  well  adapted  to  us, 
accustoming  us  to  see  the  shadows  before  the  bodies,  and  to  see  the 
sun  in  the  water,  that  we  might  not  be  blinded,  by  coming  at  once  to 
the  sight  of  the  unmingled  light.  In  like  way,  both  the  law,  having 
a  shadow  of  the  good  things  to  come,  and  the  outlines  of  the  proph- 
ets, being  a  dark  likeness  of  the  truth,  were  devised  to  exercise  our 
eyes ;  that  from  these  we  might  the  more  readily  pass  to  the 
wisdom  hidden  in  mystery." 

*  Comp.  S.  Jerome  in  Zach.  xiii.  "  because  we  pass  from  the  law  to  the  Gospel, 
from  the  letter  to  the  Spirit,  from  the  shadow  to  the  truth ;  and  for  things  shortlived 
and  present,  there  succeed  things  future  and  eternal." 

t  De  Sp.  S.  c.  15.  fin. 


ADDENDA 


Page  30. 


To  the  testimonies  to  the  Catholic  Interpretation  of  Joh.  iii.  5.  may  be  added  S.  Hip- 
polytus  in  Theophan.  §  8.  and  Pseudo-Martial  Ep.  ad  Bnrdegalenses,  Bibl.  Patr.  T.  iv. 
p.  108.  Ep.  ad  Tolosanos,  c.  4.  and  8.  (quoteil  by  Mr.  Harcourt,  Doctrine  of  the 
Deluge.)     Origen  quotes  it  again,  Horn.  14.  in  Luc.  iii.  p.  948. 

Page  33. 

Joh.  iii.  5.  is  admitted  by  the  Pelagians  even  in  their  confessions  of  faith,  in  proof  of 
the  necessity  of  infant-baptism.  Rufinus  (Lib.  Fid.  c.  vii.  §  48.  ap.  Gamier,  Diss,  de 
lib.  fid.  ed.  a  Pelag.  p.  303.,)  and  Pelagius,  Ep.  ad  Innocent,  ap.  Aug.  de  Pecc.  orig. 
c.  xix.  §  21. 

Page  46. 

"  Joh.  i.  was  read  as  a  baptismal  lesson  m  the  African  Church,  as  appears  from  S, 
Augustine,  Serm.  119,  120."  Admon.  in  Serm.  8.  App.  ad  S.  Leon.  T.  i.  p.  4l8.  ed. 
Ven.  see  above,  p.  33.  note  t.  In  the  sermon  itself,  the  text  (Joh.  i.  13.)  is  explained 
of  the  birth  in  Bapti.sm,  "  Ye  then  have  now  been  born,  not  of  the  conception  of  the 
flesh,  but  begotten  of  God  the  Father.  It  remains  that  by  a  holy  life  and  conversation, 
ye  preserve  the  dignity  of  that  holy  origen."  It  is  quoted  also  in  the  exposition  of  the 
Lord's  prayer  in  the  Office  for  Catechumens  in  the  Liturgy  of  Gelasius,  "  Wherefore, 
most  beloved,  show  yourselves  worthy  of  the  Divine  adoption,  since  it  is  written, 
'  Whoso  believeth  in  Him,  to  them  gave  lie  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God.'  " — 
(Ass.  i.  15.) 

Page  51.  note  t. 

To  the  witnesses  to  the  Catholic  Interpretation  of  Tit.  iii.  5.  may  be  added  Hijipolytus 
in  Theoph.  §  9.     Methodius  Conv.  Virg.  which  I  first  met  with  in  Mr.  Harcourt,  1.  c. 

Page  80. 
S.Ambrose  de  Sacr.  vi.  2.  §  8.  uses  the  word  "  concrucifigeris." 

Page  86. 

The  connection  of  our  Baptism  with  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  is 
again  illustrated  by  Tertullian,  (see  below,  p.  198.)  and  by  S.  Leo,  in  the  same  context, 
"  To  confirm  which"  [the  peculiar  fitness  of  Easter]  "  it  has  much  weight,  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  after  He  rose  from  the  dead,  gave  to  His  disciples,  (teaching 
in  them   the  Bishops  of  all  Churches,)  both  the  form  and  power  of  baptizing,  saying. 


212 

'  Go,  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them,  &.c.  For  in  this  He  might  equally  have  instruct- 
ed them  before  His  Passion,  unless  He  had  especially  intended  it  to  be  understood  that 
the  grace  of  regeneration  took  its  rise  from  His  own  resurrection."  Ep.  16.  c.  3. 

Page  124. 

See  S.  Athanasins  below,  quoted  on  p.  221.  St.  Jerome  also  in  Abac.  L.  ii.  c.  iii.  13. 
refers  the  unction  to  Baptism. 

Page  148. 

The  section  Heb.  X.  16 — 18.  and  19 — 24.  is  a  Baptismal  Lesson  in  the  Jerusalem 
Liturgy.  (Ass.  ii.  228,  9.) 

Page  161. 

The  section  Ep.  iv.  1 — 6.  is  a  Baptismal  Lesson  in  the  Maronite  Liturgy,  by  James 
of  Sarug.  (Ass.  ii.  312.) 

Page  163. 
Even  Pelagius  connects  the  unity  of  Baptism  with  the  unity  of  the  Trinity,  in  Whom 
we  are  baptized,  "because  they  who  are  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit,  are  baptized  in  One  Substance."     (Ad  loc.  1  Cor.  xii.  13.) 

Page  170. 

Acts  ii.  38.  was  read  in  connection  with  Baptismal  service.  Basil,  Hom.  de  S.  Bapt. 
T.  ii.p.  114. 

Page  171. 

S.  Jerome  places  the  exhortation  of  S.  Peter,  and  the  Baptism  of  the  Eunuch,  among 
his  panegyrics  of  Baptism.  (Ep.  ad  Oc.)  "The  people  of  the  Jews  repent  them  of 
their  deed,  and  forthwith  is  sent  by  Peter  to  Baptism,  '  Before  she  travaileth,  Zion 
beareth,  and  a  nation  is  born  at  once.'"  (Ts.  Ixvi.  7.)  "The  Eunuch  of  Candace, 
queen  of  Ethiopia,  is  prepared  by  the  reading  of  the  prophet  for  the  Baptism  of  Christ. 
Against  nature,  '  the  Ethiopian  changeth  his  skin,  and  the  leopard  his  spots.' " — Jer. 
xiii.  23. 

Page  221. 

On  the  efficacy  of  our  Lord's  Baptism  were  omitted  S.  Athanasius,  who  gives  an  ad- 
ditional testimony  on  the  interpretation  of  1  Cor.  i.  22.  I  Joh.  ii.  20 — 27.  "  But  if 
for  our  sakes  he  sanctifies  Himself,  and  doth  this  when  He  became  man,  it  is  plain,  that 
the  descent  of  the  Spirit  upon  Him  in  Jordan,  was  upon  us  (fi  d;  avTon  h  tu  'lop'oivri  tov 
JlveiiJiaTos  ytvo^dvri  KaOoioi  el;  (i^iTs  ijv  yivo/jti/ij)  because  He  bore  our  body  ;  and  it  was  not 
to  amend  the  Word,  but  again  for  oursanctification,  that  wa  might  partake  of  His  anoint- 
ing, and  of  us  it  might  be  said,  '  know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temples  of  God,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  youl'  for  when  the  Lord,  as  man,  was  washed  in  Jordan,  it 
was  we  who  in  Him,  and  by  Him  were  washed  ;  and  when  He  received  the  Spirit,  it 
was  we,  who  from  Him,  became  capable  of  receiving  It.  Thence  did  we  also  begin 
to  receive  the  unction  and  the  seal,  John  saying,  '  and  ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy 
One,' and  the  apostle,  'and  ye  were  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise.'  This  then 
was  said  on  our  account,  and  for  us."     Orat.  1.  c.  Arian.  §  47,  p.  451.  Lactantius,  Inst. 


313 

iv.  15.  "  He  was  baptized  in  the  river  Jordan  to  abolish  by  the  spiritual  washing,  not 
His  own  sins  which  He  had  not,  but  those  of  the  flesh  which  He  bore,  that  as  He  saved 
the  Jews  by  receiving  circumcision,  so  He  might  the  Gentiles  by  Baptism,  i.  e.  the 
pouring  forth  of  the  purifying  dew."  S.  Jerome,  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  not 
so  much  cleansed  by  the  Baptism,  as  by  His  Baptism  cleansed  all  waters."  Adv.  Lucif. 
§  6.  and  ad  Oc.  "The  Saviour  Himself,  after  He  was  baptized,  and  by  His  Baptism 
had  sanctified  the  waters  of  Jordan,  begins  to  preach  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  S.  Epi' 
pkanius,  "  Coming  to  the  Jordan,  baptized  by  John,  Christ  not  needing  the  bath,  but  in 
conformity  to  His  incarnation  under  the  law,  not  disturbing  what  was  righteous,  that  as 
He  saith,  '  all  righteousness  might  be  fulfilled,'  that  He  might  show  that  He  had  assum- 
ed real  flesh,  and  real  incarnation  :  descending  to  the  waters,  giving  rather  than  receiv- 
ing, bestowing  rather  than  needing,  enlightening  them,  empowering  them  as  a  type  of 
those  who  should  be  perfected  in  Him,  that  they  who  believe  in  Him  in  truth,  and  have 
the  true  faith,  might  learn  that  He  was  truly  incarnate  ;  truly  baptized  ;  and  thus  they 
also,  comhig  through  His  compliance  might  receive  the  power  of  His  condescension, 
and  be  illumined  by  the  light  He  brought."  Anaceph.  §  7.  T.  3.  p.  153.  And  S.  Leo, 
Ep.  xvi.  6.  "  He  founded  the  sacrament  of  His  Baptism  in  Himself,  because  '  in  all 
things  having  the  pre-eminence,'  He  showed  that  He  was  the  Beginning."  In  the 
same  view  of  the  connection  of  our  Baptism  with  our  Lord's,  the  baptistery  is  in  the  Cop- 
tic ritual  termed  "the  Jordan;"  (Ass.  ii.  163.)  and  the  section,  Luke  iii.  15 — 22.  is  a 
Baptismal  lesson  in  the  Maronite  liturgy  by  James  of  Sarug  (Ass.  ii.  312.,)  as  in  Matt, 
iii.  13— end,  in  the  Armenian  (ib.  ii.  201.)  Mark  i.  1—11.  in  the  Apostolic  Syriac,  by 
James  Ed.  (ib.  i.  266.,)  and  John  iii.  22—27.  in  the  Jerusalem,  (ii.  249.) 

Page  225,  Note  *. 

Add  from  S.  Ambrose  de  Sp.  S.  c.  lO.  §  65.  " inasmuch   as  the  Lord  Jesus 

Christ  Himself  was  both  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  re-born.  Whom  if,  because  ye 
cannot  deny,  he  confessed  to  be  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  deny  Him  to  be  re-born, 
it  were  great  lack  of  wisdom  to  confess  what  is  the  saving  dispensation  of  God,  and 
deny  what  is  common  to  man."  S.  Jerome  also  uses  the  word  re-natus  of  our  Lord. 
See  above,  p.  39.  note. 

Add  to  page  230,  second  extract. 
•'  Great  was  the  wonder  when  the  priest  stretched  forth  his  arm,  and  prepared  Bap- 
tism for  Him,  and  the  Watchers   above  wondered.     Dust  stood  over  the  Flame  and 
called  the  Spirit,  and  It  came  from  above.     Forthwith  He  heard  and  performed  his 
desire,  and  gave  life  to  the  dead,  and  hope  to  the  faithful.     Halleluia.     Halleluia." 

Page  245. 

Add  S.  Ambrose  de  Myst.  c.  4.  §  24.  "  The  Holy  Spirit  descended  as  a  Dove — that 
you  might  dck»  vvfted^c  [ia^h*",  F.., ad}  the  type  of  the  Sacrament."  The  Greek  Litur- 
gy also  flw-:  !lfi  /f^ri";v*  f^'O  L  'ni^  our  ImtA  and  God  of  our  Fathers,  Who  to  those  in 
the  Ark  of  ''.oaii  ..;  -.test  the  drffl?,  bearing  in  its  mouth  the  olive-branch,  the  symbol  of 
reconciliation  An&  of  (ieiivera^qe  from  the  deluge,  and  through  both,  foresignifying  the 
mystery  of  grace."     (Ass.  ii.  140.) 

Add  to  page  231,  after  the  second  extract. 

Ib.  i.  275.  '■  'The  Voice  of  the  Lord  on  the  waters.'  Halleluia.  Thinking  on  the 
Baptism  of  the  Son  of  God,  I  am  amazed  ;  how  He  came  to  Baptism,  Who  had  done 


314 

no  sin.  He  was  baptized,  having  done  no  sin,  and  justified  sinners.  He  was  washed,  wlio 
needed  not,  and  cleansed  debtors.  Praise  to  Him  Who  did  all  these  things  for  us,  and 
sanctified  us  by  His  Baptism  for  the  remission  of  debts. 

"  '  Thou  gavest  gifts  unto  men.'  Halleluia.  Holy  and  Son  of  the  Holy.  Pure  and 
undefiled,  Who  in  the  beginning  was  God  the  Word,  came  to  Baptism  to  cleanse  us, 
and  sanctified  water  to  justify  us.  And  being  by  His  Nature,  and  the  Forgiver  of  debts, 
He  was  baptized  by  John  in  Jordan.     Praise  to  His  humility." 

Page  247. 
1  Cor.  X.  1.  sqq.  is  a  Baptismal  Lesson  in  the  Malabar  Liturgy.  (Ass.  i.  187.)  It  is  re- 
ferred to  in  the  revised  Syriac,   "  Perfect  them  by  the  gift  of  Holy  Baptism,  which  was 
typically  expressed  by  Moses  Thy  servant,  when  He  baptized  the  people  in  the  sea  and 
the  cloud  ;  and  by  dark  hints  and  types,  typified  these  our  perfect  and  Divine  things." 

Page  273. 
This  and  several  other  types  are  comprised  in  a  passage  (Juoted  by  Gerhard  from  S. 
Cyril.  Alex.  The  reference  is  wrong,  but  the  passage,  whether  Cyril's  or  some  other's 
is,  in  spirit,  ancient.  "Let  not  the  ordinance  of  the  laver  of  Baptism  be  thought  novel 
and  arbitrary,  which  was  prefigured  by  many  figures  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  testimo- 
nies of  prophets.  For  by  the  waters  of  the  deluge,  the  sins  of  the  whole  world  were  ex- 
piated, and  they  who  were  laid  up  in  the  ark  were  saved  by  water,  this  was  a  type  of 
Baptism,  whereby  all  the  defilements  of  sins  are  laid  aside,  and  the  decayed  condition  of 
life  removed.  Further,  the  people  of  Israel,  led  by  Moses,  passeth  the  Red  sea  dry-shod, 
the  Egy[)tians  being  overwhelmed  there,  which  conveyed  to  us,  that  through  the  recep- 
tion of  Baptism,  the  whole  legion  of  diabolic  pravity  is  removed  and  expelled  from 
us,  and  we  being  regenerated  in  Christ,  are  by  the  grace  of  God,  freed  from  his  most 
hard  oppression.  What,  moreover,  did  the  people  ef  Israel,  conducted  over  the  Jordan 
by  the  guidance  of  Joshua,  where  the  waters  stood  on  either  side  motionless,  and  yields 
ed  a  road  between,  to  the  land  of  promise,  signify  other  than  that  whoever,  led  by  Christ, 
rightly  receive  the  laver  of  Baptism,  shall,  at  length,  arrive  at  the  land  of  the  living  1 
W'hat  that  Naaman  the  Syrian,  washed  seven  times  in  Jordan,  was  cleansed  from  his 
leprosy,  other  than  that  they  who  are  washed  by  the  Baptism  of  Christ,  are  forthwith 
cleansed  from  all  leprosy  of  the  soul,  and  from  sinl  What,  lastly,  does  the  water  of 
expiation,  and  of  sprinkling  according  to  the  rite  of  the  ancient  law,  taking  away  un- 
cleannesBl  This  same  water  the  Lord  promised  in  Ezekiel  (c.  xxxvi.,)  '  I  will  pour 
clean  water  upon  you.'  This  water  of  Baptism  the  prophet  saw  (c.  xlvii.,)  '  I  saw  the 
waters  going  forth  from  the  temple,'  &c.  This  the  side  of  Christ  poured  forth  ;  this  the 
pool  of  Bethesda  foresignified." 

Page  285. 
The  following  passage  of  S.  Basil  is  quoted  by  Lipomann,  "  Whether  by  '  spirit'  he 
mean,  the  air  spread  all  around,  which  is  breathed  ;  or  (which  is  the  truer,  and  approved 
by  our  forefathers,)  the  '  Spirit  of  God'  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  inasmuch  as  it  hath  been  ob- 
served that  Scripture  speaks  of  Him  eminently  and  chiefly,  and  calleth  nothing  else  '  the 
Spirit  of  God'  but  the  Holy  Spirit,  Who  completeth  the  number  of  the  Divine  and 
Blessed  Trinity.  If  you  admit  this  meaning,  you  will  obtain  more  fruit  from  the  pas- 
sage. «  But  in  what  way,'  sayest  thou,  '  was  He  borne  above  the  waters  1'  I  will  give 
you,  not  my  own  explanation,  but  that  of  a  Syrian,  removed  from  the  wisdom  of  the 
world,  in  proportion  to  his  nearness  to  the  knowledge  of  truth.  He  said,  then,  that 
'  the  Syriac  was  more  expressive,  and  on  account  of  its  affinity  to  Hebrew,  came  closer 


315 


to  the  meaning  of  Scripture.'  The  meaning  then  was  this,  "fhe  word  'was  borne,' 
the  Syriac  interprets,  '  fostered,  imparted  to  the  waters  a  life-giving  fruitfuiness,  after 
the  image  of  a  bird  brooding,  and  imparting  a  certain  force  of  life  to  the  things  fostered 
by  it.'  Such  we  assert  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  words,  that  the  '  Spirit  of  God  was 
borne  above  the  waters,'  i.  e.  that  the  Holy  Spirit  prepared  the  nature  of  water  for  a 
life-giving  fruitfuiness.  Whence  what  some  wish  to  know,  sufficiently  appears,  viz. 
that  neither  is  the  Holy  Spirit  without  a  share  in  the  act  of  creating." 


END  OF  PART  1. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 
On  the  Principles  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  Scriptural  Truth, 
and  some  of  the  obstacles  which  of  late  have  prevented  men  from 
receiving  that  of  baptismal  regeneration.     p.  7 20. 

Man  no  judge  beforehand  of  the  etfect  of  divine  truth — danger  of  speak- 
ing of  essential  and  unessential  truths  in  the  Gospel,  p.  7 — 11.  Individual 
holiness  no  test  of  religious  truth — holding  the  truth  in  unrighteousness — 
blessing  of  being  placed  in  Christ's  Church — use  of  private  judgment  im- 
aginary— ministry  not  infallible  because  blessed — p.  11 — 15. — Greatness 
of  Baptismal  regeneration  if  held  positively — who  serves  earliest  serves 
best — p.  15 — 18.  All  restorations  at  first  partial — recovery  hitherto  par- 
tial— Scripture  evidence  is  for  those  who  beUeve — object  of  the  present 
work,  p.  18—20. 

CHAPTER  n. 

On  the  MEANING  OF    BAPTISMAL    REGENERATION,    AND    THE    PASSAGES    OF    HoLY 

Scripture  which  speak  of,  or  imply  the  greatness  of  Baptism,  p.  21 — 
315. 

Meaning  of  Regeneration,  p.  21 — 25.  Preliminary  observations,  p.  25 
— 28.  Position  of  John  iii.  5.  as  a  key  to  other  Scripture,  compared  with 
other  passages  and  with  primitive  interpretation,  p.  29 — 76. 

(I.)  Passages  in  which  Holy  Scripture  speaks  of  God,  moderns  see  only 
duties  of  man,  p.  76 — 109. 

(n.)  Passages  in  which  moderns  have  appropriated  to  themselves  the 
privileges  of  Holy  Baptism,  without  thought  of  the  means  through  which 
they  are  conveyed,  p.  109 — 151. 

(H.)  Passages  implying  the  high  dignity,  essential  office  and  large 
place  of  Baptism  in  the  Divine  scheme  of  Redemption,  151,  sqq.  (iii.  1.) 
Incidental  mention  of  Baptism,  p.  152 — 170.  (iii.  2.)  Indications  of  the 
importance  of  Baptism,  arising  from  the  mode  in  which  Holy  Scripture 
speaks  of  it,  when  conferred  on  individuals.  The  Ethiopian  Eunuch — 
Lydia — The  Jailor — St.  Paul — Cornelius — Simon  Magus — John's  Bap- 
tism, p.  170 — 216.  (iii.  3.)  Indications  of  the  dignity  of  Baptism  arising 
from  circumstances  connected  with  our  Blessed  Saviour's  Person,  and 
from  prophetic  declarations  and  types  of  it  recognized  by  Scripture,  by 
the  Ancient  Church,  or  as  derived  from  it  by  our  own,  p.  216—309. 

Addenda,  p.  311 — 315. 


